Measurement of stress-optical coefficients of COC's with different composition

Rheo-optical and mechanical properties of Cyclic Olefin Copolymers(COC's) with different composition have been investigated across the glass transition temperature. Accurate measurement of stress or strain-optical coefficients and elastic modulus data across the glass transition are essential for predicting optical anisotropy in many optical products like pickup lenses and waveguides in LCD backlight unit since the material of these products have both flow and thermal history from the melt to glass. To obtain stress-optic behavior in the wide frequency region including rubbery, glassy and glass transition regime, extensional bar-type device was used. A shear-sandwich tool was used in the melt region. Master curves for modulus, stress-optical and strain-optical coefficients have been obtained in wide frequency region. The stress-optical coefficients of COC's with mol fraction of norbornene, 60 similar to 70%, showed almost constant between -8 and -9 Br at glassy region and between +920 and + 1,160 Br in the melt region. Even though the glass transition temperature showed the difference of 35 degrees C, the stress-optical coefficients of COC's with different composition showed almost same extreme values.