In Situ Studies of Coatings on Metal Wires by FT-IR External Reflectance Spectroscopy

Abstract

Diffuse reflectance FT-IR spectroscopy was originally developed for particulate samples dispersed in KBr powders. Now, by using ellipsoid mirrors for scattered light collection, we have taken advantage of the collection efficiency of diffuse reflectance optics and have extended their use to an in situ study of coatings on metal wires and of the broken surface of a reinforcement wire as well. The result is that spectra of coatings on wire show good overall agreement with external reflection spectra of thin films. The technique we have developed has an advantage over infrared attenuated total reflection (ATR), in that there is no optical contact problem between the wire sample and ATR crystal.