Document Type

Article

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

1. NATURAL SCIENCES, 1.3 PHYSICAL SCIENCES, Optics

Publication Details

Optics Express, Vol. 16 Issue 12, pp.8487-8497 (2008) Available from http://www.opticsinfobase.org/oe/search2.cfm?journalList=4&fullrecord=Method+for+characterization+of+diffusion+properties+of+photopolymerisable+systems&basicsearch=Go

Abstract

A novel approach for measuring the diffusion coefficients in photopolymerisable materials is proposed. The method is based on studying the evolution of the surface relief profile in a single illuminated spot using an interferometric surface profiler. It is shown that the observed post-exposure swelling in the illuminated spot is due to mass-transport of monomer from the unexposed to the exposed area driven by a monomer concentration gradient set up by the monomer polymerization in the exposed area. Appropriate choice of the thickness of the studied layers ensures both lateral movement of monomer and negligible contribution from the depth. The diffusion coefficient is retrieved from the standard one-dimensional diffusion equation where the height of the profile in the center of the illuminated spot is used instead of the monomer concentration. In contrast to other techniques for measuring the diffusion in photopolymerisable materials, no assumptions or preliminary information about the polymerization rates are required. It is shown how the method can be used for studying the intensity and polymer density dependence of diffusion coefficient

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.16.008487

Funder

Science Foundation Ireland

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