Study of dye diffusion in fibers by laser scanning confocal microscopy

The diffusion of a fluorescent dye in nylon 66 fibers was studied by using a laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) and by a conventional method. The diffusion coefficients were determined by both methods and they were in close agreement. The study of dye diffusion in fibers by LSCM is simple, quick and also able to provide high resolution images of fiber cross‐sections and 3D images of the dye distribution in fibers. To our knowledge this is the first report of using a LSCM to study dye diffusion in polymeric fibers.