Empirical prediction method of intrinsic light scattering loss of transparent amorphous polymers

• Published in: Journal of applied polymer science 1992-12, Vol.46 (11), p.2033-2037
• Main Authors: Takezawa, Yoshitaka, Taketani, Noriaki, Tanno, Seikichi, Ohara, Shuichi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Electrical, magnetic and optical properties; Exact sciences and technology; Organic polymers; Physicochemistry of polymers; Properties and characterization
• ISSN: 0021-8995; 1097-4628
• DOI: 10.1002/app.1992.070461115

We studied simple empirical equations to estimate the values of intrinsic light scattering loss αR of various polymers applicable for plastic optical fibers, especially for aromatic amorphous polymers. The αR is divided into two losses, that is, αiso and αaniso. Here, αiso means the isotropic scattering loss; αaniso, the anisotropic scattering loss. The αiso is mainly a function of refractive index, and the αaniso is a function of refractive index, density, and the number of benzene rings in the polymer repeating unit. Therefore, when the polymer density and the structure of its repeating unit are known, the values of αR can be estimated. We derived new empirical equations for predicting the values of each intrinsic light scattering loss, αiso and αaniso. The estimated values were approximately equal to the experimental ones. The values of αR of aromatic amorphous polymers were not so large inherently, and they were a few hundred decibels per kilometer at the highest. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.