| Abstract: | A spectrophotometric method was developed for measuring the birefringence of highly oriented synthetic fibers. This method surmounts the low birefringence limit of the standard quartz compensator method and the difficulties in interpretation of the photographic fringe method. A highly oriented aramid fiber gave birefringence values of 0.60–0.75 by this method, compared with 0.25 for polyester and 0.06 for nylon by other conventional methods. The operating principles and excellent results of this new method provide a basis for the extension of routine birefringence characterization to highly oriented fibers. |
