SCANNING FORCE MICROSCOPY OF NANOFIBRILLAR STRUCTURE OF DRAWN POLYETHYLENE TAPES .1. DIFFERENT MODES AND TIPS

Different scanning force techniques and specially selected probes were employed to examine the nanofibrillar structure of gel-drawn ultra hi gh molecular weight polyethylene. In order to avoid image artifacts an d observe details of the surface structure with an improved resolution , the quality of probes was controlled with a new calibration gauge. I mages recorded in the lateral force and tapping modes showed more stru ctural features than those obtained in the normal force mode. Particul arly a regular striped pattern was detected on the surface of nanofibr ils. According to its repeating distance, ca.25 nm, this pattern is co nsistent with the long period of UHMW PE observed earlier by SAXS and TEM.