The Research On The Polymerization Process Of Microstructured Polymer Optical Fiber Material

Photonic crystal fiber(PCF) has the special characteristics of endlessly single-mode, dispersion and strong birefringence et al. Plastic optical fiber is easy to connect, and its cost is low. Microstructured polymer optical fiber has the advantage of both PCF and POF, and so which is of extensive application fields. Recently MPOF is one of the most active research areas. The continuous extrusion method is used to make MPOF in our lab. The paper studies the polymerization process of MPOF material. MMA is selected as raw material of the preparation of MPOF. Compressed bulk free radical polymerization is adopted by means of analyzing polymerization method and polymerization mechanism. Di-tert-butyl peroxide is selected as initiator, and dodecyl mercaptan is selected as chain transfer agent by means of analyzing the physical characteristics. GSH-5 reaction vessel is selected as reaction equipment. The experimental procedures are designed based on the operation of the reaction vessel and characteristics of MPOF material. The technique conditions, such as reactive time, reactive temperature, the quantities of initiator and chain transfer agent, have great influence on results of MMA polymerization. The raw conditions are determined by some preliminary experiments. Then the more experiments are arranged based on orthogonal design method according to the results of the preliminary experiments. MMA transforming rate is measured using waterless ethyl alcohol, and molecular weight of PMMA is measured using Ubbelodhe viscometer. The experimental results are analyzed based on the gained data. The preferable conditions of polymerization technique are obtained, which are proved by repeated experiments.