MICROSTRUCTURAL, SURFACE MORPHOLOGICAL, AND MICRO-HARDNESS ANALYSIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF LASER DYE RHODAMINE (Rh6G) DOPED PMMA POLYMERIC MATRICES

摘要

Polymer complex samples of laser dye rhodamine (Rh6G) doped polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) with various compositions (PMMA: Rh6G : 2 g : 0.005 mg, 2 g : 0.05 mg, 2 g : 0.5 mg) and 2 g pure PMMA were prepared by the solution cast method. The pure and doped polymeric samples were investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. The effect induced by rhodamine (Rh6G) on the strength of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) samples was studied by measuring the surface micro-hardness using the Vickers microhardness tester. Significant changes were observed in the Vickers micro-hardness number (Hv) and the structural and morphological behavior, which have been correlated.