Optical birefringence and molecular orientation of crazed fibres utilizing the phase shifting interferometric technique

In this article, the features of the phase shifting interferometric technique were utilized to investigate the effect of the presence of crazes in both outer and inner layers on optical birefringence and molecular orientation of polypropylene fibres. The Pluta polarizing interference microscope was used as a phase shifting technique. This method includes adding a stepper motor with a control unit to the micrometer screw of the Pluta microscope. This optical system was calibrated to be used as a phase shifting interferometric technique. The advantage of this technique is that it can detect the crazes in both inner and outer layers of the sample under test. Via this method, the relation between the presence of the crazes (in both inner and outer layers) and the optical molecular orientation of polypropylene (PP) fibres was demonstrated. To clarify the role of this method, the spatial carrier frequency technique was used to show the effect of the presence of the crazes only in the outer layers on the phase distribution values and hence the structural properties of PP fibres.