Fast fabrication of a novel transparent PMMA light scattering materials with high haze by doping with ordinary...

Poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)/poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) light scattering materials are fabricated by a simple, low-cost approach of melt blending and compression molding. We find that the competing effects of particle diameter versus number concentration of the scattering particles is the controlling factor to tailoring the optical properties of the materials, which is analyzed according to Mie scattering theory. The results show that the transmittance kept decreasing in the PET concentration range 0-10 wt% followed by a constant level in the range 10-20 wt%; however, the transmittance experienced a significant increase in the range 20-35 wt% and plateaued again after PET content exceeded 35 wt%. Therefore, the application of ordinary polymer dopant makes preparing light scattering sheets with high haze but not decreasing transmittance possible.