use of optical fibers 8 a high proportion of the radiation emitting from the uv laser 3 can be coupled into the molds 4 normally one mold is irradiated with one optical fiber for achieving a high uv intensity at the mold the distance between the end of the fiber optic and the surface of the mold should be as short as possible in order to examine the results of the uv irradiation treatment of the molds measurements with an esca instrument surface scanning electron microscope were performed in order to investigate changes of the chemical composition of the surface as a function of the uv irradiation time a single male and a single female mold were irradiated with uv light using time periods of 0 12 24 and 48 hours of exposure then the molds were transferred to an esca instrument for detecting the chemical surface composition esca is an acronym for electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis a more descriptive and common name is xps x ray photoelectron spectroscopy the esca spectrometer is a model ssx 100 manufactured by surface science inc of mountainview calif in fig3 and 4 esca spectra from a single female mold are shown fig3 shows a gradual increase in oxygen and silicon signals as a function of time and a gradual decrease in carbon in fig4 there is an elimination of signals from nitrogen.