The sensitive and simple photothermal technique of Surface Thermal Lensing (STL) was employed to study the thermo-mechanical response of an amorphous polycarbonate as a bulk. A discussion is given of how previously developed theories did not fit well with the present work. Therefore, only qualitative analysis and discussion of the experimental results is made, emphasizing the influence of various factors on the STL signal. The work here is mainly a study of the dependence of the STL signal on the modulated pump beam frequency. The effect on the STL signal of thermal and mechanical relaxation in the thermally stimulated area is also discussed qualitatively. Some normalization procedures were developed to show that most of the spots on the bulk polycarbonate sample followed a common trend and showed position dependence of optical, thermal, and mechanical properties of the sample.
","abstract_html":"<p>The sensitive and simple photothermal technique of Surface Thermal Lensing (STL) was employed to study the thermo-mechanical response of an amorphous polycarbonate as a bulk. A discussion is given of how previously developed theories did not fit well with the present work. Therefore, only qualitative analysis and discussion of the experimental results is made, emphasizing the influence of various factors on the STL signal. The work here is mainly a study of the dependence of the STL signal on the modulated pump beam frequency. The effect on the STL signal of thermal and mechanical relaxation in the thermally stimulated area is also discussed qualitatively. Some normalization procedures were developed to show that most of the spots on the bulk polycarbonate sample followed a common trend and showed position dependence of optical, thermal, and mechanical properties of the sample.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hussain, Bushra"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"Physics and Astronomy","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2005,"date_issued":"2005-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2005-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:30Z","subjects":["Polycarbonates","Polymers Mechanical properties","Polymers Thermal properties","Polymers Optical properties","Polymers","Physics"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/114","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hussain, Bushra"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Physics and Astronomy"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Polycarbonates","Polymers Mechanical properties","Polymers Thermal properties","Polymers Optical properties","Polymers","Physics"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/114"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The sensitive and simple photothermal technique of Surface Thermal Lensing (STL) was employed to study the thermo-mechanical response of an amorphous polycarbonate as a bulk. A discussion is given of how previously developed theories did not fit well with the present work. Therefore, only qualitative analysis and discussion of the experimental results is made, emphasizing the influence of various factors on the STL signal. The work here is mainly a study of the dependence of the STL signal on the modulated pump beam frequency. The effect on the STL signal of thermal and mechanical relaxation in the thermally stimulated area is also discussed qualitatively. Some normalization procedures were developed to show that most of the spots on the bulk polycarbonate sample followed a common trend and showed position dependence of optical, thermal, and mechanical properties of the sample.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Investigation of the optical, thermal, and mechanical properties of a bulk polymer using the surface thermal lensing technique"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Hussain, Bushra"],"dc:description.abstract":["The sensitive and simple photothermal technique of Surface Thermal Lensing (STL) was employed to study the thermo-mechanical response of an amorphous polycarbonate as a bulk. A discussion is given of how previously developed theories did not fit well with the present work. Therefore, only qualitative analysis and discussion of the experimental results is made, emphasizing the influence of various factors on the STL signal. The work here is mainly a study of the dependence of the STL signal on the modulated pump beam frequency. The effect on the STL signal of thermal and mechanical relaxation in the thermally stimulated area is also discussed qualitatively. Some normalization procedures were developed to show that most of the spots on the bulk polycarbonate sample followed a common trend and showed position dependence of optical, thermal, and mechanical properties of the sample.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/114"],"dc:subject":["Polycarbonates","Polymers Mechanical properties","Polymers Thermal properties","Polymers Optical properties","Polymers","Physics"],"dc:title":["Investigation of the optical, thermal, and mechanical properties of a bulk polymer using the surface thermal lensing technique"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Physics and Astronomy"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:16:30Z"}