Processing and properties of THV and THVP
Nyrhinen, Juho (2023)
Nyrhinen, Juho
2023
Materiaalitekniikan DI-ohjelma - Master's Programme in Materials Engineering
Tekniikan ja luonnontieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2023-04-05
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202303132904
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202303132904
Tiivistelmä
The thesis aims to study the processing and properties of the terpolymer of tetrafluoroethylene, hexafluoropropylene, and vinylidene fluoride, THV, and its more flexural form THVP and their suitability with cell culture imaging purposes. THV and THVP were chosen due to their processability and good optical properties which include transparency and refractive index being close to water. The manufacturing method chosen was compression molding and samples were made into thin plates.
The usage of fluorinated ethylene propylene, FEP, was studied due to having similar properties to THV and THVP such as good transparency and refractive index being close to water. FEP has a much higher melting point making processing it more difficult. Because of FEP’s high melting point, it could not be used to process with available compression molding equipment.
Properties of THV and THVP were tested with wettability testing, transparency testing, and refractive index testing. Oxygen plasma treatment’s effect on the material’s hydrophilicity was studied during the wettability experiment and also, and the effect of oxygen plasma treatment on sample transparency was studied during the transparency experiment.
Material wettability was tested with an optical tensiometer, and the untreated sample was compared to samples with different oxygen plasma times. The wettability test aimed to find out if water or cell medium liquid can properly wet the surface of the material.
Transparency was tested with Ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-Vis spectrophotometry) which tells what amount of light goes through the sample and what amount light absorbs into the material. The results showed that the transparency of the material is quite low, only around 20% of incoming light can go through it and the rest will absorb into the material.
The refractive index of the material was measured with a refractometer that calculates the refractive index with different wavelengths and the results were compared to the manufacturer's given value for the material. The calculated refractive index for the material was around 1.35 for THVP and 1.36 for THV which are also the given values that the manufacturer provided.
Wettability testing showed promising results on hydrophilicity. Untreated samples commonly took a longer time to reach low contact angles than oxygen plasma treated samples. The transparency of the materials were quite low and untreated samples released a similar amount of light as oxygen plasma treated samples. Refractive index testing showed the most promising results of all the testing, with refractive indexes being approximately the same as the manufacturer’s provided values. The conclusion is that with better-adjusted parameters in the manufacturing method THV and THVP could be suitable for OPT and SPIM imaging for cell culture studies.
The usage of fluorinated ethylene propylene, FEP, was studied due to having similar properties to THV and THVP such as good transparency and refractive index being close to water. FEP has a much higher melting point making processing it more difficult. Because of FEP’s high melting point, it could not be used to process with available compression molding equipment.
Properties of THV and THVP were tested with wettability testing, transparency testing, and refractive index testing. Oxygen plasma treatment’s effect on the material’s hydrophilicity was studied during the wettability experiment and also, and the effect of oxygen plasma treatment on sample transparency was studied during the transparency experiment.
Material wettability was tested with an optical tensiometer, and the untreated sample was compared to samples with different oxygen plasma times. The wettability test aimed to find out if water or cell medium liquid can properly wet the surface of the material.
Transparency was tested with Ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-Vis spectrophotometry) which tells what amount of light goes through the sample and what amount light absorbs into the material. The results showed that the transparency of the material is quite low, only around 20% of incoming light can go through it and the rest will absorb into the material.
The refractive index of the material was measured with a refractometer that calculates the refractive index with different wavelengths and the results were compared to the manufacturer's given value for the material. The calculated refractive index for the material was around 1.35 for THVP and 1.36 for THV which are also the given values that the manufacturer provided.
Wettability testing showed promising results on hydrophilicity. Untreated samples commonly took a longer time to reach low contact angles than oxygen plasma treated samples. The transparency of the materials were quite low and untreated samples released a similar amount of light as oxygen plasma treated samples. Refractive index testing showed the most promising results of all the testing, with refractive indexes being approximately the same as the manufacturer’s provided values. The conclusion is that with better-adjusted parameters in the manufacturing method THV and THVP could be suitable for OPT and SPIM imaging for cell culture studies.