ENGINEERING POLYMER SURFACE CHEMISTRY AND TOPOGRAPHY VIA ADDITIVE MIGRATION AND PHYSICAL SECTIONING

Abstract

<p>This work detailed in this thesis has developed two new technologies for modifying polymer surfaces with variable chemistry and topography: 1. Surfadditive (surface-active-additive) approach for polymer surface chemistry modification during molding. This concept was demonstrated by the synthesis and application of two types of surfadditives. The first type of surfadditive is a block copolymer having the “head-neck-body” structure. The “head” and “neck” of the chain molecule provides functionality and enables the surfadditive to migrate to the surface, while the “body” of the molecule provides rooting to the bulk material. The second type of surfadditive is a magnetic nanoparticle having an iron core and PMMA/POSS block copolymer shell. Both surfadditives were successfully applied in the molding processes of PMMA samples for surface chemistry modification. Various factors affecting the migration processes were investigated; 2. A one step “cutting-edge” based on controlled chattering for surface topography construction (patterning). This technology was developed by using an oscillating diamond knife in ultramicrotomy and was operated at high cutting speed with controlled oscillation. One dimensional wavy patterns on PMMA and epoxy sample surfaces were successfully fabricated by this one-step method. The sizes of patterns were tunable form 30 nm to 3 µm through adjusting cutting speed and oscillation frequency. Besides, this technology was also able to fabricate nanowires structures with high aspect ratios (10,000) and adjustable sizes from a variety of materials.</p>