Preparation and properties of optically transparent, pressure‐cured poly(methacrylate) composites

摘要

AbstractThe objective of this work was to develop optically transparent glass fiber reinforced poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) composites by matching the refractive index of the glass fiber reinforcement to that of the PMM, A matrix, thereby minimizing the quantity of light which is normally scattered and reflected at the interface of dissimilar materials. A pressure curing process is described for preparing composites 10 by 15 by 0.6 cm thick and containing up to ∼ 35 glass fiber. By curing at 65°C under 6.9 MPa N2for 18 H, composites have been produced with optical quality surfaces and flexural strengths more than seven times that of commercial PMMA of the same thickness. A transparent composite containing 10.4 vol of 13 μm diameter fiber had an 84 optical transmission (92 maximum for PMMA) at 600 nm and 2