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Monitoring the quality of mix of polymer melts with particulate fillers using fluorescence spectroscopy
Author(s) -
Bur Anthony J.,
Shibata John,
Trout Todd K.,
Wang Francis W.,
Thomas Charles L.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.760292405
Subject(s) - materials science , chromophore , polymer , fluorescence , polybutadiene , fluorescence spectroscopy , dopant , composite material , mixing (physics) , analytical chemistry (journal) , optics , chemistry , photochemistry , organic chemistry , copolymer , doping , physics , optoelectronics , quantum mechanics
Fluorescence spectroscopy has been employed to monitor the mixing of polymer melts with filler material. The polymer melts were low molecular weight polybutadiene and PBAN, a terpolymer consisting of 85% butadiene, 11% acrylonitrile, 4% acrylic acid, and the filler material was aluminum oxide. To carry out the fluorescence observations, a dopant chromophore was mixed into the polymer melt at very low concentrations, 10 −4 to 10 −6 molar or 11 to 0.11 ppm by weight. The mixing experiments were carried out using a small laboratory mixer which had glass walls for viewing the fluorescence spectra from the dopant chromophore. Fluctuations in fluorescence intensity were observed to decrease as a function of mixing time indicating that the spatial distribution of the fluorescent chromophores was becoming more uniform. Concerning the mixing of polymer melt and filler, we hypothesize that uniform mixing of ingredients is achieved when fluorescence intensity as a function of time is constant. In order to obtain quantitative support for this hypothesis, we used a fluorescence microscope to measure fluorescence intensity and optical transmittance from microscopic regions of well‐mixed and poorly mixed specimens.