Irradiation-induced and strain-induced self-organization of elastomer surfaces

The appearance of self-organized structures on elastomer surfaces owing to the combined treatment of ionizing radiation and mechanical strain is described. For example, ion bombardment of stretched elastomer surfaces after subsequent relaxation of the polymer results in self-organized,undulating surface topology, whereas the dame surface treatment of a relaxed elastomer shows such self-organized topology only under subsequent mechanical deformation of the elastomer. Surface treatment of one-dimensionally stretched elastomers leads to undulations with wave-vectors oriented parallel to the original,strain direction, while on elastomer surfaces treated in the relaxed state undulations with wave-vectors perpendicular oriented to the current strain direction appear. The period of these self-organized structures can be controlled by the process parameters in the range of some 10 mum down to the submicrometer scale.