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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1999  > May  >
In the Laboratory
An Interferometric Study of Epoxy Polymerization Kinetics
Melissa A. Page and W. Tandy Grubbs
Stetson University, Department of Chemistry, Unit 8271, DeLand, FL 32720
Cover
May 1999
Vol. 76 No. 5
p. 666
Abstract
An interferometric method for monitoring polymerization kinetics is described. The experimental apparatus can be constructed from items commonly available in undergraduate laboratories. It consists of a low power helium-neon laser, a home-built Michelson interferometer, and a photodiode light detector. When a polymerizing sample is placed in one arm of the Michelson interferometer, the variation in refractive index will cause a corresponding shift in the phase of the coherent optical beam that passes through the sample, and the output of the interferometer will subsequently fluctuate between constructive and destructive interference. The oscillation in the interferometer output intensity is monitored as a function of time with the photodiode. The time between successive maxima (or minima) is used to calculate the change in refractive index with time (Dn/Dt), which is subsequently used as a phenomenological definition of polymerization rate. We have utilized this device to collect and compare curing profiles of commercially available epoxy glues.

See Letter re: this article
More Information
*  Citation
 Page, Melissa A.; Grubbs, W. Tandy. J. Chem. Educ. 1999 76 666.
*  Keywords
 Polymer Chemistry; Physical Chemistry; Kinetics; Lasers / Laser Spectroscopy; Undergraduate Research
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 June 11, 1999
June 23, 2005
Link to Letter added (April 2004).
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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1999 > May > Page 666


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