PHOTON-EMISSION DURING DEFORMATION OF GLASS-FIBER-REINFORCED BISPHENOL-A POLYCARBONATE

We give a survey on mechanically induced emission phenomena (acoustic emission [AE], neutral particle emission [NE], electron and charged pa rticle emission [EE/PIE], radio wave emission [RE]) of polymers and br iefly summarize these effects in unfilled and glass-fiber-reinforced b isphenol-A-polycarbonate. A general treatment of the photon emission k inetics in terms of analysis and description, using a convolution func tion, is proposed. The kinetics obey a power law decay in time. By exa mining a model mechanism for the interfacial failure of the composite, i.e., by peeling of glass/polymer laminates, we show that the origin of the photon emission is the polycarbonate matrix after cleavage of t he glass/polymer interface. Spectral characteristics of mechanically i nduced luminescence of glass-filled polycarbonate and of the peeling s pectra of the model system of glass/polycarbonate laminates are discus sed. Different brands of polycarbonate yield identical spectra. Spectr a recorded during peeling in vacuum are very similar to those recorded during deformation of the composite. Polarized fluorescence spectrosc opy and electron-beam luminescence were used to obtain further informa tion about the intrinsic polycarbonate-chromophores that are available for mechanical induced photon emissions.