• Laurvick, Tod V.
• Weber, Thomas
• Brewer, John S.
• Roberts, Candice R.
• Sherburne, Michael

Abstract

A colloidal quantum dot loaded polymer coated onto the surface of a sample pre-coated with epoxy was found to linearly change photoluminescence intensity around a 611.5 nm peak while under tensile strain. This peak was the epoxy’s photoluminescence emission wavelength while the wavelengths around it were attributed to the colloidal quantum dot loaded polymer. From the spectra emitted from both the epoxy and the colloidal quantum dot loaded polymer, an empirical relation was made to calculate the changes in photoluminescence intensity between them. A calibration was then devised to create an optical stress-strain curve. The relationship found between both the optical and mechanical stress-strain curves indicated that this measurement technique followed the sample towards failure in the plastic region better than when only measuring from a colloidal quantum dot loaded polymer peak. For the first time, the results demonstrated here show that an epoxy’s photoluminescence emission peak utilized in tandem with colloidal quantum dot loaded polymer can be used for strain sensing. Potential applications that could benefit from this finding would be: quality control, strain gauge for systems, and materials science.

Topics

• surface
• photoluminescence
• polymer
• stress-strain curve
• quantum dot