AN AUTOMATIC LANGMUIR-BLODGETT SYSTEM BASED ON FLOWING SUBPHASE COMPRESSION

An automatic system for continuously fabricating Langmuir-Blodgett (LB ) films will be described, in which a monolayer on an air-water interf ace is compressed distributively underneath by a steady laminar flow s ubphase. The main features of this system are the following. (1) Homog eneous compression to monolayers with a very high surface viscosity, s uch as polymeric monolayers, can be obtained. (2) Continuous depositio n of LB films on a substrate with a large area can be made. The experi mental result with the atomic force microscope shows that polymeric ch ains in a monolayer can be straightened on the flowing water surface. The system is particularly useful in industrial applications for the f abrication of a large quantity of LB films.