Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals Science and Technology. Section A. Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, Vol.301, 301-305, 1997
Development of Non-Birefringent Optical Adhesives
The birefringence compensation technique(1) has been employed through polymer blending for the development of non-birefringent optical adhesives. It has been found that trimellitic anhydride(TMA)-cured polymethylmethacrylate(PMMA)/Epoxy (EPON-828) as a possible system resulted in phase separation due to polymerization(2). To circumvent the problem of polymerization-induced phase separation, a copolymer system comprised of methylmethacrylate(MMA) and glycidylmethacrylate(GMA) was synthesized(3). The MMA-co-GMA copolymer was subsequently blended with EPON-828, then cured thermally with TMA. The cured blend films showed single glass transition at all compositions and optical transparency suggestive of miscible character. These optical adhesive blends showed zero birefringence or zero optical retardation at compositions between 60-70-wt% copolymer. The zero Birefringence afforded by the compensation of the intrinsic birefringence of the constituent polymer chains may be attributed to the complete miscibility of the blends in the cured state.