Effect of Disperse Red 1 Azobenzene Dye Doping and Annealing on the Thermomechanical and Photomechanical Properties of PMMA Fibers

This work studies the effect of azobenzene dye Disperse Red 1 (DR1) doping and annealing on thermomechanical photomechanical properties poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) fibers. The mechanical are measured as a function temperature, pump light intensity, polarization. We find that with DR1 increases stiffness glass transition temperature (Tg) PMMA Moreover, below Tg decreases Young’s modulus Tg. Finally, photothermal heating contribution to response length change during laser exposure determined in both unannealed annealed plain DR1-doped is dominant mechanism photoisomerization negligible. temperature-dependent efficiencies also determined.