Photochromic films prepared by solid state processing of disentangled ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene and photochromic dyes composites

Disentangled ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (DPE) is a special grade of polyethylene (molecular weight, >10⁶ Da) which can be processed by an environment friendly solid state process on counter rotating two roll mill (TRM) below the melt temperature of the polymer. This unique processing property of DPE was utilized to develop smart DPE photochromic films. Photochromic dye like 'Spirooxazine' or 'Spiropyran' has been mixed with DPE resin powder prior to film formation without altering the DPE properties. These films could change their optical appearances on exposure to UV-light of wavelength 365 nm and the color change phenomenon of the films could also be replicated by sunlight. The color change observed is found to be reversible, that is, films could return to colorless form either spontaneously in dark or by thermal stimuli. Such smart property was imparted to DPE even at very low concentration (2,000 ppm) of photochromic dyes. Spectrophotometric studies were used to measure the rate of forward reaction with UV radiation and the rate of backward reaction in dark. In fact, DPE powder and photochromic dye composite was used to produce the compression molded disc to understand the color change phenomena. Moreover, it was observed that the photo-degradation rate of dye, could be retarded ~30% by using amphoteric Zinc phthalate salt. TGA and DSC studies confirmed that the characteristics of DPE film remained almost unaltered even after with preparation of film photochromic dyes.