Molecular alignment relaxation in polymer optical fibers for sensing applications

Abstract

A systematic study of annealing behavior of drawn PMMA fibers was performed. Annealing dynamics were investigated under different environmental conditions by fiber longitudinal shrinkage monitoring. The shrinkage process was found to follow a stretched exponential decay function revealing the heterogeneous nature of the underlying molecular dynamics. The complex dependence of the fiber shrinkage on initial degree of molecular alignment in the fiber, annealing time and temperature was investigated and interpreted. Moreover, humidity was shown to have a profound effect on the annealing process, which was not recognized previously. Annealing was also shown to have considerable effect on the fiber mechanical properties associated with the relaxation of molecular alignment in the fiber. The consequences of fiber annealing for the climatic stability of certain polymer optical fiber-based sensors are discussed, emphasizing the importance of fiber controlled pre-annealing with respect to the foreseeable operating conditions.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yofte.2015.12.006
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Aston Institute of Photonics Technology (AIPT)
Additional Information: © 2016, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Uncontrolled Keywords: humidity induced annealing,molecular alignment relaxation,optical fiber sensor climatic stability,polymer optical fibers,thermal annealing,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials,Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Publication ISSN: 1095-9912
Last Modified: 11 Mar 2024 08:14
Date Deposited: 21 Mar 2016 14:30
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2016-03-01
Published Online Date: 2016-01-11
Accepted Date: 2015-10-01
Authors: Stajanca, Pavol
Cetinkaya, Onur
Schukar, Marcus
Mergo, Pawel
Webb, David J. (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-5495-1296)
Krebber, Katerina

Download

[img]

Version: Accepted Version


Export / Share Citation


Statistics

Additional statistics for this record