Surface topography and gloss of polyolefin blown films

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was used to obtain a comprehensive characterization of the surface roughness of polyethylene blown films based on a variety of resins. The quantitative description of surface roughness was achieved using a number of statistical parameters. Surface gloss of the sample films was calculated using the general Kirchhoff solution for rough surfaces. The calculated gloss values showed good agreement with experimental measurements. The quality of the correlation suggests the utility of AFM in characterization of surface roughness. It also suggests that the proposed mathematical and statistical description of roughness is a useful tool for the estimation of surface gloss.