title: Investigation of molecular chain orientation change of polymer crystals in phase transitions by friction anisotropy measurement.
abstract: Direct observation of the molecular orientation change in polymer crystals provides us visible information for understanding their structural phase-transition mechanisms. In this letter, we successfully identified the main-chain orientation of poly(vinylidenefluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) crystals over all directions using friction anisotropy measured by lateral-modulation friction force microscopy (LM-FFM). This technique made possible our investigation of molecular orientation changes caused by a ferroelectric phase transition and also a fabrication process for artificial nanometer-scale structures. These results give us visual information that is directly connected to the transition mechanisms.
authors: Department of Electronic Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, Katsura, Nishikyo, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan. kimurak@icc.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors: Kuniko
authors: K
authors: Kimura
authors: Kei
authors: K
authors: Kobayashi
authors: Hirofumi
authors: H
authors: Yamada
authors: Kazumi
authors: K
authors: Matsushige