Effect of structural evolution and orientation behavior on optical properties of iodine-dyed PVA film during uniaxial stretching

Abstract

In the process of preparing polarizing film, based on the research on the influence of the initial condensed structure of Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) film on the dyeing and stretching process, the connection between the structure and performance of polarizing film is established, which is more conducive to understanding the post-processing process of solution casting molding of optical grade PVA film and the optimization of subsequent dyeing and stretching process. In this paper, PVA film with an appropriate swelling degree were selected for dyeing treatment, and the evolution of the condensed structure during stretching was studied in detail. The work also examined the formation and orientation of PVA-iodine complexes and the feedback effect of complex formation on the structural evolution of the film, with the goal of establishing the relationship between stretching ratio, structure, and performance of the polarizing film. The results show that the dyeing process inhibits the recrystallization of the PVA film during uniaxial stretching. However, the PVA-iodine complexes formed act as "anchors" to stabilize the oriented microfiber network, reducing the critical strains (εw and εs) required for the PVA film to enter the strain-hardening zone. Furthermore, as strain increases, the content of polyiodide ions and PVA-iodine complexes in the dyed PVA film also increases, especially making the formation of long iodide chains (I5−) and PVA-I5− complex more sensitive. Additionally, with increasing strain, both the transmittance and degree of polarization of the dyed PVA film improve, reaching optimal values in the strong strain-hardening zone (>εs). This indicates that εs is the minimum critical strain required to ensure optimal polarization performance of the film in the visible light region.