Kd. Weaver et al., PREPARATION AND PROPERTIES OF OPTICALLY TRANSPARENT, PRESSURE-CURED POLY(METHYL METHACRYLATE) COMPOSITES, Polymer composites, 14(6), 1993, pp. 515-523
The objective of this work was to develop optically transparent glass
fiber reinforced poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) composites by matchi
ng the refractive index of the glass fiber reinforcement to that of th
e PMMA matrix, thereby minimizing the quantity of light which is norma
lly 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 approximately 35 vol% glass fi
ber. By curing at 65-degrees-C under 6.9 MPa N2 for 18 h, composites h
ave 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 mum diameter fiber
had an 84% optical transmission (92% maximum for PMMA) at 600 nm and 2
5-degrees-C.