New high-performance material in nonlinear optics field, the polymer blend PMMA-EVA: a first investigation

Giuseppe Carbonara; Pasquale Mormile; Giancarlo Abbate; Umberto Bernini; Pasqualino Maddalena; Mario Malinconico

doi:10.1117/12.24422

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1 March 1991 New high-performance material in nonlinear optics field, the polymer blend PMMA-EVA: a first investigation

Giuseppe Carbonara, Pasquale Mormile, Giancarlo Abbate, Umberto Bernini, Pasqualino Maddalena, Mario Malinconico

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 1361, Physical Concepts of Materials for Novel Optoelectronic Device Applications I: Materials Growth and Characterization; (1991) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.24422
Event: Physical Concepts of Materials for Novel Optoelectronic Device Applications, 1990, Aachen, Germany

Abstract

A novel polymeric material a poly (methylmetacrylate) (PMMA) with 7 by wt. of poly (ethylenecovinylacetate) (EVA) blend is presented. The PMMAIEVA thermograph in the temperature range -50 to 220 C exhibits a phase transition at 50 C. During this transition the typical hysteresis of the polymeric transitions has been noted. We show the behaviour of the optical transmission as a function of the temperature and present some physical properties of this material. In the frame of a research on the preparation and characterization of high mechanical performances PMMA-based blends we conducted several optical tests in order to verify the potential applications of such blends in devices of integrated optics. Tough transparent PMMA is industrially produced by a multistage process of incorporation of rubbery particles in a methacrylic matrix. The rubbers are obtained by a suspension process in which a shell of cross-linked rubbery buthyl acrylate-styrene copolymer is polymerized around a PMMA matrix. The core-shell structure (fig. 1) is necessary in order to assume a good stress transfer between the phases and at the same time a better matching of the refractive indices of the two phases. To achieve the desired level of toughening high amounts (20-30 by wt) of rubber are necessary with an unavoidable diminution of elastic modules. In our procedure an amorphous ethylene-co-vinylacetate copolymer (EVA 20 by wt of VA) is used as rubbery component 1 The synthetic process

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Giuseppe Carbonara, Pasquale Mormile, Giancarlo Abbate, Umberto Bernini, Pasqualino Maddalena, and Mario Malinconico "New high-performance material in nonlinear optics field, the polymer blend PMMA-EVA: a first investigation", Proc. SPIE 1361, Physical Concepts of Materials for Novel Optoelectronic Device Applications I: Materials Growth and Characterization, (1 March 1991); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.24422

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