INVESTIGATING ADSORBED POLYMER LAYER BEHAVIOR USING DYNAMIC SURFACE FORCE APPARATUSES - A REVIEW

The equilibrium forces encountered between polymer bearing surfaces ha ve been investigated in great detail, at a nanoscopic scale, ever sinc e the development of the Surface Force Apparatus (SFA). However, in do ing so it has also been recognised that polymer interactions have a un iquely dynamic nature that warrants further investigation. In the last decade a number of researchers have taken this task to hand by modify ing the SFA such that it attains the added capacity of working at a dy namic level. This review will follow the development of the SFA in its use as a dynamic tool, and also consider theoretical advances that ha ve been made in order to interpret the results retrieved in such studi es.