Determination of surface energy of polymers by force microscopy

Force microscopy has been used to measure adhesive forces between a silica oxide tip and several polymer samples. The adhesive forces vary with the nature of the surface and seem to be correlated with the surface energy of the solids. From adhesive forces we have determined the surface energy of three polymer samples and compared these values with those found by contact angle measurements. The surface energies determined by these methods are close and agree with the literature values. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)00201-7].