Paper AS+MC+SS-FrM2
Hydrogen and Chemical Quantification of an Organic Coating

Friday, November 14, 2014, 8:40 am, Room 316

Zinc-coated steel substrates often have an additional organic coating applied, protecting the steel surface or altering its appearance for decorative reasons. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) is an analysis technique which provides chemical bonding information from the top few nanometres of a surface down to many microns in depth. It is the ideal technique, for example, for identifying the carbon functional groups in these organic coatings. XPS cannot detect hydrogen, however, but the complementary technique of Reflection Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (REELS) is able to both detect and quantify hydrogen. REELS can also be used to discern between aliphatic and aromatic carbon in the organic coatings.

There is also a requirement for compositional profiling of these coatings, combining the excellent depth resolution and chemical specificity of XPS with some kind of ion beam sputtering. Traditional methods such as argon monomer ion profiling can result in a high degree of chemical modification during the acquisition of depth profiles for organic materials. Numerous studies over recent years, however, has shown that argon cluster beams may be used for depth profiling while preserving chemical information during analysis of organic materials.

This talk will present data from cluster profiling studies of an organic coating on steel. The data will be compared with an alternative method of profiling the coating, i.e. ultra low angle microtomy. A complete elemental compositional profile of the coating, including hydrogen, will be presented.