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Viscosity and refractive index adjustment of poly(methyl methacrylate‐co‐ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate) for application in microoptics
Author(s) -
Hanemann Thomas,
Honnef Kirsten
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
polymers for advanced technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.61
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1099-1581
pISSN - 1042-7147
DOI - 10.1002/pat.3428
Subject(s) - materials science , polymer , methyl methacrylate , methacrylate , copolymer , monomer , polymerization , refractive index , chemical engineering , glass transition , polymer chemistry , curing (chemistry) , composite material , optoelectronics , engineering
Polymer optical components like waveguides or lenses are gaining more and importance as passive or active devices enabling the formation of a sensor and detector platform, e.g. for monitoring the health of large area functional surfaces, which are difficult to access like the wings of an off‐shore wind energy plant. With respect to low‐loss waveguiding and the use of chemical and mechanical stable polymers there is a need to tailor the optical as well as the thermomechanical properties. The given approach describes the addition of electron‐rich small organic molecules like phenanthrene to a poly(methyl methacrylate)‐based polymer matrix enabling a significant refractive index increase from 1.49 up to almost 1.55 (@589 nm). As undesirable side effects the optical transmittance in the visible range at higher guest molecule content is reduced, and a pronounced plasticizing occurs. Both hamper the application of the mixture, e.g. as optical waveguide material. The plasticizing and the accompanied drop of the glass transition temperature, determining the maximum operation temperature, can be partially compensated by the copolymerization of the methyl methacrylate monomer (MMA) with the difunctional monomer ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) at certain crosslinker content. The resulting new developed guest–host mixtures enable the realization of optical devices with adjusted rheological behavior prior to curing and tailored optical properties after polymerization. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.