https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap/2025026
Original Article
Solvent-induced softening of polymethyl methacrylate surfaces studied using atomic force microscopy
Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
* e-mail: james.bowen@open.ac.uk
Received:
15
February
2025
Accepted:
17
September
2025
Published online: 17 October 2025
Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is an important plastic in society and museum collections. In heritage collections it is often important to clean and conserve items. Since ethanol is potentially a green solvent with low toxicity, it is of fundamental value to study the interactions between PMMA and ethanol. PMMA is also used extensively for micro- and nanofabrication, for example as a negative photoresist or electron beam resist. Understanding the interaction between PMMA and ethanol at the nanoscale, particularly over extended periods of contact, could yield a deeper understanding of the technologies realizable with this versatile polymer.
Key words: Atomic force microscopy / ethanol / polymethyl methacrylate / topography / Young's modulus
© P. Morfis et al., Published by EDP Sciences, 2025
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
