Dynamic Mechanical Analysis on a PolyMethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) Polymer Optical Fiber

Curvature sensors based on polymer optical fibers (POFs) present some advantages over the conventional technologies for joint angle assessment such as compactness, electromagnetic field immunity, and multiplexing capabilities. However, the polymer is a viscoelastic material, which does not have a constant response with stress or strain. In order to understand and model this effect, this paper presents the dynamic characterization of a POF. The effects of temperature, frequency, and loads on the fiber are analyzed for obtaining the influence of these parameters on the polymer dynamic Young modulus and time constant. Results show that a temperature on the range between 24 °C and 45 °C does not lead to considerable variations on the sensor output. Moreover, it is possible to estimate the storage modulus and loss factor from the frequency and temperature. The polymer time constant is defined on creep recovery experiments. Since the viscoelastic parameters are evaluated in different conditions of temperature, frequency, and load, a model for the stress behavior of the fiber is proposed. Such model leads to a root mean squared error between the modeled and measured results over 15 times lower than the one obtained with the model for bending stress without account the POF viscoelastic behavior.