Substrate materials polymers

The auto polymer coatings market has been (1) defined in terms of snb-strate type (hard/soft), substrate material (polymer type), and module (instrument panel [IP], door trim [DT], floor). A summary of the applications that use liquid coatings and the alternatives is presented in Figure 1. The target zones in interiors and exteriors for coatings are sunomarized in Table 2. 

Polymers are only marginally important in main memories of semiconductor technology, except for polymeric resist films used for chip production. For optical mass memories, however, they are important or even indispensable, being used as substrate material (in WORM, EOD) or for both substrate material and the memory layer (in CD-ROM). Peripheral uses of polymers in the manufacturing process of optical storage media are, eg, as binder for dye-in-polymer layers or as surfacing layers, protective overcoatings, uv-resist films, photopolymerization lacquers for repHcation, etc. 

Copolymers nd Blends of PC. Numerous co- and terpolymers as well as polymer blends of BPA-PC have been developed and their suitabihty as substrate materials for optical data storage media has been tested (Table 8) (195). From these products, three lines of development have been chosen for closer examination. 

Table 10 compares the values of different experimental uv-curable cross-linked polymers with those of BPA-PC for the most important properties of substrate materials (220). In spite of this remarkable progress in the development of fast curing cross-linked polymers, BPA-PC and, to a small extent, glass are still the materials of choice for substrates for optical data storage. 

Other Polymers. Besides polycarbonates, poly(methyl methacrylate)s, cycfic polyolefins, and uv-curable cross-linked polymers, a host of other polymers have been examined for their suitabiUty as substrate materials for optical data storage, preferably compact disks, in the last years. These polymers have not gained commercial importance polystyrene (PS), poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), cellulose acetobutyrate (CAB), bis(diallylpolycarbonate) (BDPC), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), styrene—acrylonitrile copolymers (SAN), poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAC), and for substrates with high resistance to heat softening, polysulfones (PSU) and polyimides (PI). 

Fig. 26. Qualitative compatison of substrate materials for optical disks (187) An = birefringence IS = impact strength BM = bending modulus HDT = heat distortion temperature Met = metallizability WA = water absorption Proc = processibility. The materials are bisphenol A—polycarbonate (BPA-PC), copolymer (20 80) of BPA-PC and trimethylcyclohexane—polycarbonate (TMC-PC), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), uv-curable cross-linked polymer (uv-DM), cycHc polyolefins (CPO), and, for comparison, glass.

It has been also shown that when a thin polymer film is directly coated onto a substrate with a low modulus ( < 10 MPa), if the contact radius to layer thickness ratio is large (afh> 20), the surface layer will make a negligible contribution to the stiffness of the system and the layered solid system acts as a homogeneous half-space of substrate material while the surface and interfacial properties are governed by those of the layer [32,33]. The extension of the JKR theory to such layered bodies has two important implications. Firstly, hard and opaque materials can be coated on soft and clear substrates which deform more readily by small surface forces. Secondly, viscoelastic materials can be coated on soft elastic substrates, thereby reducing their time-dependent effects. 

Both share more or less the same merits but also the same disadvantages. The beneficial properties are high OCV (2.12 and 1.85 V respectively) flexibility in design (because the active chemicals are mainly stored in tanks outside the (usually bipolar) cell stack) no problems with zinc deposition in the charging cycle because it works under nearly ideal conditions (perfect mass transport by electrolyte convection, carbon substrates [52]) self-discharge by chemical attack of the acid on the deposited zinc may be ignored because the stack runs dry in the standby mode and use of relatively cheap construction materials (polymers) and reactants. 

DIP-ToFMS is theoretically another option for the separation of additives from polymer in dissolutions using a probe temperature ramp. However, the technique also allows direct handling of solid substrate material, which is even more convenient. The technique has profitably been used for the analysis of non-UV cured ink, revealing diluent, photo-initiator and polymer [54]. 

The material system is a Langmuir-Blodgett film of the S enantiomer of a chiral polymer deposited on a glass substrate. The polymer is a poly(isocyanide)30 functionalized with a nonlinear optical chromophore (see Figure 9.14). In this particular system the optical nonlinearity and chirality are present on two different levels of the molecular structure. The chirality of the polymer is located in the helical backbone whereas the nonlinearity is present in the attached chromophores. Hence, this opens the possibility to optimize both properties independently. 

Optical properties of the material are less critical for microchips hyphenated with MS than for devices with on-chip optical detection where low background absorption or fluorescence is mandatory. Thus, completely opaque polymers like glassy carbon or polyimide " can be used as microfabrication substrates. Furthermore, polymer microchips are of great interest because their potentially low manufacturing costs may allow them to be disposable. Methods used for the fabrication of plastic chips include laser ablation and molding methods. 

The simplest recording medium is a bilayer structure. It is constructed by first evaporating a highly reflective aluminum layer onto a suitable disk substrate. Next, a thin film (15-50 nm thick) of a metal, such as tellurium, is vacuum deposited on top of the aluminum layer. The laser power required to form the mark is dependent on the thermal characteristics of the metal film. Tellurium, for example, has a low thermal diffusivity and a melting point of 452 °C which make it an attractive recording material. The thermal diffusivity of the substrate material should also be as low as possible, since a significant fraction of the heat generated in the metal layer can be conducted to the substrate. For this reason, low cost polymer substrates such as poly (methylmethacrylate) or poly (vinyl chloride) are ideal. 

Cross-Linked Polymers. In the 1980s, not only glass and BPA-PC but also uv-curable cross-linked polymers, eg, epoxy resins, were used as substrate material for optical mass storage disks with laige diameters (12 in., 14 in.) (219). The epoxy resins consisted of compounds containing one or several highly reactive epoxy or hydroxyl groups. The common epoxy resins (EP) mainly are reaction products of bisphenol A and epichlorohydrin ... 

The materials (metals and conjugated polymers) that are used in LED applications were introduced in the previous chapter. The polymer is a semiconductor with a band gap of 2-3 eV. The most commonly used polymers in LEDs today are derivatives of poly(p-phenylene-vinylene) (PPV), poly(p-phenylene) (PPP), and polythiophene (PT). These polymers are soluble and therefore relatively easy to process. The most common LED device layout is a three layer component consisting of a metallic contact, typically indium tin oxide (ITO), on a glass substrate, a polymer film r- 1000 A thick), and an evaporated metal contact4. Electric contact to an external voltage supply is made with the two metallic layers on either side of the polymer. 

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