Abstract
Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) film was exposed to supercritical (sc) CO2 for a range of exposure times to induce morphological change. Transmission Fr-IR imaging and Raman point mapping were applied to the microtomed film sections to determine the extent of the scCO(2)-induced morphological gradient. Confocal Raman microscopy (oil and dry objectives) was also used to elucidate the extent of the morphological gradient in a non-destructive manner. A region of semi-crystalline PET with a significant morphological gradient has been observed normal to the surface of the film at a maximum of 50 mum. The 'tunable' nature of scCO(2) processing as a function of exposure time has been demonstrated. This work confirms the suitability of the techniques to study the induced morphological changes in polymers processed with scCO(2) and the reliability of the oil immersion objective used to generate confocal Raman depth profiles.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3-7 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | VIBRATIONAL SPECTROSCOPY |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 1-2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 17 Jun 2004 |
| Event | 2nd International Conference on Advanced Vibrational Spectroscopy - Nottingham, United Kingdom Duration: 24 Aug 2003 → 29 Aug 2003 |
Keywords
- carbon dioxide
- depth profiling
- mapping
- high-pressure
- polymers
- crystallinity
- SPECTROSCOPY
- POLYMERS
- MICROSPECTROSCOPY
- CRYSTALLIZATION
- CHARACTERIZE
- RESOLUTION
- SPECTRA