Preparation of Recycled Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/Iodine Polarizing Film

Abstract

To precisely identify the effect of preparation conditions on the polarizing efficiency (PE) of recycled poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/iodine complex film, PVA film and PVA/iodine polarizing film were prepared by using recycled nonwoven PVA with a number-average degree of polymerization (P-n) of 1700, syndiotactic diad (s-diad) content 54.6%, and degree of saponification (DS) 97.6%. We investigated the effects of various conditions such as soaking time, temperature of I-2/KI aqueous solution, draw ratio, and temperature of aqueous boric acid solution on the transmittance and PE of recycled PVA/iodine complex film. Maximum transmittance and PE values of recycled PVA/iodine complex film were 41.2% and 99.8%, respectively. It was found that the recycled PVA/iodine polarizing film showed effective transmittance and PE values comparable with those of commercial PVA/iodine polarizing film.