Physical and chemical imaging of adhesive interfaces with soft X-rays

Adhesion is an interfacial phenomenon that is critical for assembling carbon structural composites for next-generation aircraft and automobiles. However, there is limited understanding of adhesion on the molecular level because of the difficulty in revealing the individual bonding factors. Here, using soft X-ray spectromicroscopy we show the physical and chemical states of an adhesive interface composed of a thermosetting polymer of 4,4’-diaminodiphenylsulfone-cured bisphenol A diglycidyl ether adhered to a thermoplastic polymer of plasma-treated polyetheretherketone. We observe multiscale phenomena in the adhesion mechanisms, including sub-mm complex interface structure, sub-μm distribution of the functional groups, and molecular-level covalent-bond formation. These results provide a benchmark for further research to examine how physical and chemical states correlate with adhesion, and demonstrate that soft X-ray imaging is a promising approach for visualizing the physical and chemical states at adhesive interfaces from the sub-mm level to the molecular level. Understanding adhesion mechanisms for polymer composites is challenging due to the bonded interface being buried. Here, soft X-rays are used to probe the chemical and physical nature of the interface, revealing multiscale factors that influence the adhesion mechanism and bond strength.