Van Zele Matthias, Watté Jonathan, Hasselmeyer Jan, Rijckaert Hannes, Vercammen Yannick, Verstuyft Steven, Deduytsche Davy, Debecker Damien P, Poleunis Claude, Van Driessche Isabel, De Buysser Klaartje
Sol-Gel Centre for Research on Inorganic Powders and Thin Film Synthesis (SCRiPTS), Department of Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281-S3, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
Department of Chemistry, Universiteit Antwerpen, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
Materials (Basel). 2018 Jun 28;11(7):1101. doi: 10.3390/ma11071101.
The thickness characterization of transparent protective coatings on functional, transparent materials is often problematic. In this paper, a toolbox to determine the thicknesses of a transparent coating on functional window films is presented. The toolbox consists of a combination of secondary ion mass spectrometry and profilometry and can be transferred to other transparent polymeric materials. A coating was deposited on designed model samples, which were characterized with cross-sectional views in transmission and in scanning/transmission electron microscopy and ellipsometry. The toolbox was then used to assess the thicknesses of the protective coatings on the pilot-scale window films. This coating was synthesized using straightforward sol-gel alkoxide chemistry. The kinetics of the condensation are studied in order to obtain a precursor that allows fast drying and complete condensation after simple heat treatment. The shelf life of this precursor solution was investigated in order to verify its accordance to industrial requirements. Deposition was performed successfully at low temperatures below 100 °C, which makes deposition on polymeric foils possible. By using roll-to-roll coating, the findings of this paper are easily transferrable to industrial scale. The coating was tested for scratch resistance and adhesion. Values for the emissivity (ε) of the films were recorded to justify the use of the films obtained as infrared reflective window films. In this work, it is shown that the toolbox measures similar thicknesses to those measured by electron microscopy and can be used to set a required thickness for protective coatings.
对功能性透明材料上的透明保护涂层进行厚度表征往往存在问题。本文介绍了一种用于确定功能性窗膜上透明涂层厚度的工具箱。该工具箱由二次离子质谱法和轮廓测定法组合而成，并且可以应用于其他透明聚合物材料。在设计的模型样品上沉积涂层，通过透射、扫描/透射电子显微镜和椭偏仪的截面视图对其进行表征。然后使用该工具箱评估中试规模窗膜上保护涂层的厚度。这种涂层是使用简单的溶胶 - 凝胶醇盐化学方法合成的。研究缩合动力学以获得一种前驱体，该前驱体在简单热处理后能够快速干燥并完全缩合。研究了这种前驱体溶液的保质期，以验证其是否符合工业要求。在低于100℃的低温下成功进行了沉积，这使得在聚合物箔上进行沉积成为可能。通过使用卷对卷涂层，本文的研究结果很容易转化到工业规模。对涂层进行了耐刮性和附着力测试。记录了薄膜的发射率（ε）值，以证明所获得的薄膜作为红外反射窗膜的用途是合理的。在这项工作中，结果表明该工具箱测量的厚度与电子显微镜测量的厚度相似，并且可用于设定保护涂层所需的厚度。
