Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) recycling for the production of optical fiber sensor systems

Abstract

This paper proposes the recycling of poly (methyl methacrylate) plates, formerly used in LCD monitors to produce polymer optical fibers without cladding for sensor systems and a discussion about the fabrication process of the fiber cladding is briefly presented. After disassembling LCD monitors the acrylic plate is cleaned and submitted to an extrusion process. Extrusion temperatures of 220°C, 230°C and 240°C were applied, and the produced polymer fibers were characterized by infrared and visible spectrometry, as well as evaluated for thermal analysis through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Furthermore, a refractive index sensor was developed with the recycled fibers. Results show that the recycled fiber refractive index sensor is linear (R = 0.99) and presents a sensitivity of more than 4 times higher when compared to a sensor using a commercial POF.

Fast and stable gratings inscription in POFs made of different materials with pulsed 248 nm KrF laser

“…Although optical fiber sensors are commonly made of silica fibers, advances in polymer processing [2], characterization [3] and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) inscription [4] enable the application of polymer optical fibers (POFs) in sensing applications. POFs present additional advantages when compared with their silica counterparts, which include flexibility in bending, higher fracture toughness, and lower Young Modulus that provides higher sensitivity in strain sensing applications [5].…”

Dynamic mechanical characterization with respect to temperature, humidity, frequency and strain in mPOFs made of different materials

“…Nevertheless, it is worth to mention that some effort has been made to reduce these transmission losses through gradedindex POFs [3] and their doping with different materials [5]. Because of these advantages, POF sensors have been applied to measure parameters like temperature [6], humidity [7], strain [8], refractive index [9], liquid level [10], acceleration [11]. In addition, POF sensors are employed in biomedical applications for glucose [12] and antibody detection [13,14].…”

Performance Analysis of a Lower Limb Multi Joint Angle Sensor Using CYTOP Fiber: Influence of Light Source Wavelength and Angular Velocity Compensation

“…The fabrication of POFs consists of a variety of optical polymers, including polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA), cyclic transparent optical polymer (CYTOP produced by Chromis Fiberoptics, New Jersey, USA), cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), polystyrene (PS) and polycarbonate (PC) [8,19]. PMMA is the most common and popular material with a low cost [17].…”