Transparent polymers are widely used in building test models and producing operation sensors. The diversity in the parameters of the modulated electromagnetic waves, when travelling through a polymeric medium in the form of a light vector, is the means of carrying information in most of the optical sensors. Therefore, the development of efficient operation sensing instrumentation relies basically on a solid understanding of the mechanical, chemical, and physical characteristics of the polymers involved. Optical anisotropy has been shown to prevail in commercially available polymers. This physical phenomenon may lead to erroneous results if not encountered while processing the acquired optical data. The presence of residing double refraction seem to be advantageous in numerous cases. The disadvantage of weak birefringence can be removed. Thus, a relatively cheap material, such as acrylic, may be upgraded to an excellent material for building optical strain gauges. This present contribution presents a brief review of the beneficial and adverse effects of the orientation of the chains in polymers, on the penetrating dielectric vector.

Date Published: 8 May 1995
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 2443, Smart Structures and Materials 1995: Smart Structures and Integrated Systems, (8 May 1995); doi: 10.1117/12.208321

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2443:
Smart Structures and Materials 1995: Smart Structures and Integrated Systems
Inderjit Chopra, Editor(s)