USING LATERAL FORCE AND FORCE MODULATION TO IMAGE FILLED ELASTOMERS

The study of soft materials is a great problem of the atomic force mic roscopy. The high resolution, typical for these instruments, can only be achieved with difficulties. The lateral-force-mode and the force-mo dulation-mode are promising modes of scanning to get additional inform ations about the chemical composition of the sample surface. The new c ontrast mechanism of the force- modulation-technique relies on variati on in the surface elasiticity: Therefore we used these two modes and t he topography to image the surface of cured styrene-butadiene-rubber ( SBR) filled with carbon black and to visualize bound rubber on a carbo n black surface.