Visualization and quantification of the chemical and physical properties at a diffusion-induced interface using AFM nanomechanical mapping

Interdiffusion in miscible or immiscible polymers is of significant importance both for fundamental issues and for practical applications like welding, adhesion, coating, and blending. Entanglement structure within the interfacial layer that is formed via interchain penetration during the interdiffusion process is known to be one of the most fundamental issues of polymer materials. Mechanical properties of the interfacial regions that are resulted from the interdiffusion are tightly related to the ultimate applications of the polymer material. For polymer diffusion, however, the composition profile and diffusion mechanism including not only the diffusion model but also kinetics, like mutual diffusion coefficient, which have not been reported in previous work, are essential and needed.