W. Richard Bowen and Nidal Hilal 4

C H A P T E R
9
Application of Atomic
Force Microscopy for
the Study of Tensile and
Microrheological Properties
of Fluids
Matthew S. Barrow and P. Rhodri Williams
O U T L I N E
9.1 Introduction 245
9.2 Dynamic AFM Methods for the Characterisation of
Material Properties 249
9.3 Dynamic Modulation Studies on Confined Fluids 252
9.4 Determination of Rheological Properties from Resonance Spectra 256
9.5 Cavitation and Adhesive Failure of Thin Films 259
9.6 Mesoscale Experimental Studies of the Tensile Behaviour
of Thin Fluid Films 261
Acknowledgements 269
List of Symbols 269
References 270
9.1 InTRoDuCTIon
Atomic force microscopy is undeniably one of the most successful techniques
for the characterisation of surfaces and is routinely used to describe
structural details with nanoscale resolution [1]. The ability of atomic force
245