ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SURFACE-ROUGHNESS AND REFLECTOMETRICAL MEASUREMENT OF POLYETHYLENE FILMS

With the help of mechanical stylus instruments the geometry of polymer film surfaces can be determined directly. The relation between the statistically calculated average roughness, R(a), and the reflectometrical value with incidence angle of light of 60-degrees, R'60, for polyethylene films, can be described by the equation R'60 = a + b/R(a) (where a and b are constants). By using this relationship, the magnitude of reflectometrical value of such materials can be used directly as a quantitative measure of film surface roughness.