AFM FRACTURE SURFACE STUDY OF VINYLESTER AND UNSATURATED POLYESTER BASED THERMOSETS

M. A. MOSIEWICKI; W. F. SCHROEDER; F. L. LEITE; P. S. P. HERMANN; A. A. S. CURVELO; M. I. ARANGUREN; J. BORRAJO

JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE

Springer Science

Año: 2006 vol. 41 p. 6154 - 6158

0022-2461

The study and understanding of the structure and properties of styrene/vinylester (St/VE) and styrene/unsaturated polyester (St/UP) cross-linked thermosets has received technologic and scientific attention, because these resins are widely used as matrices in composites formulations, sharing advantages, such as low room temperature viscosity coupled with good mechanical properties and low cost, plus the added chemical resistance in the case of VE. To investigate the morphologies of these systems, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) offers an useful tool at a micron scale, while the atomic force microscopy (AFM) allows to reach the detail of the topography at a nanometric scale and also to determine the nanostructures of the surface.