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Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2004 in Savannah, Georgia, USA, August 1–5, 2004.

Phase segregation is important in determining the physical and chemical properties of many complex polymers, including polyurethanes. Achieving a better understanding of the connections between formulation chemistry, the chemical nature of segregated phases, and the physical properties of the resulting polymer, has the potential to greatly advance the development of improved polyurethane materials. However, the sub-micron size of segregated features precludes their chemical analysis by most existing methods. Near edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy carried out with sub micron spatial resolution provides one of the few suitable means for quantitative chemical analysis (speciation) of individual segregated phases. We have used the NSLS and ALS scanning transmission x-ray microscopes (STXM) to record images and spectra of both model and real polyurethane polymers. Relative to energy loss spectroscopy in a transmission electron microscope, STXM has remarkable advantages with regard to a much lower radiation damage rates and much higher spectral resolution (∼0.1 eV at the C ls edge), with a spatial resolution (∼0.1 μm) adequate for many real world problems in polymer analysis.