Charge-Transfer Fluorescent Probes Applied to the Characterization of Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Polymers

Charge-transfer fluorescence probes show a strong response of the intensity and wavelength positions of their spectra to solvent polarity and mobility. Such properties have been applied in the past to follow polymerization kinetics and solvent-induced effects (e.g., swelling) in polymeric materials. An important advantage of charge-transfer fluorescence probes is that they can be measured at extremely low concentrations, hence interference with the polymeric system is limited. Furthermore they report from “within,” since they are only sensitive to phenomena which occur in their immediate surroundings. In this paper it is shown that charge-transfer fluorescence probes can also be applied to study mechanical and thermal properties of polymers. The charge-transfer fluorescence probe Fluoroprobe (1-phenyl-4-[(4-cyano-1-naphthyl)methylene]piperidine) was doped into a polyether–polyester block copolymer, which was submitted to thermal and mechanical stress. The effect of strain applied to the polymers in various forms (fibers, sheets) and the effect of thermal processes (glass transition temperatures, phase transitions, melting points) are clearly reported by the changes in fluorescence intensity and wavelength of the Fluoroprobe molecule.