Applications of atomic force microscopy to current problems in industrial polyester chemistry

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has provided a wealth of information on the nature of polyester surfaces. Our collaborative team has shown that AFM can (I) identify relative levels of oligomers present on film/bottle surfaces as a function of polymer compositions, (2) identify similarities and differences in morphology between polymers which differ by less than 10 mole percent in chemical composition, and (3) provide atomic scale images of some (but not all) polyesters examined. It is our intent to develop correlations among atomic scale, molecular modeling structure, and macroscopic polymer property, which will lead to increased fundamental understanding of structure-property relationships. A preliminary account of this work was reported at the 221 st Annual Meeting of the American Chemical Society, April 2001. San Diego, CA.