AUTHOR=Reggente Melania , Angeloni Livia , Passeri Daniele , Chevallier Pascale , Turgeon Stephane , Mantovani Diego , Rossi Marco 

TITLE=Mechanical Characterization of Methanol Plasma Treated Fluorocarbon Ultrathin Films Through Atomic Force Microscopy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Materials

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/materials/articles/10.3389/fmats.2019.00338

DOI=10.3389/fmats.2019.00338

ISSN=2296-8016

ABSTRACT=<p>Methanol plasma has been proposed as an effective way to improve the performances of fluorocarbon (CF<sub><italic>x</italic></sub>) ultrathin films as stent coatings as it can successfully modulate fluorine content and wettability of the films. Nevertheless, plasma treatment may affect mechanical properties of the films, which therefore need comprehensively characterizing to verify the suitability of treated films for application as stent coating materials. In this work we investigate mechanical properties of methanol plasma treated CF<sub><italic>x</italic></sub> ultrathin films on stainless steel. In particular, cohesion of the films and their adhesion to the substrate is investigated using small punch test combined with atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging. Also, elastic and viscoelastic properties are investigated at the nanometer scale using two different AFM based advanced technique for nanomechanical characterization, i.e., HarmoniX™ and contact resonance AFM (CR-AFM). Overall, methanol plasma treated CF<sub><italic>x</italic></sub> films have been demonstrated to be suitable for application as stent coating also on the basis of their nanomechanical properties.</p>