Structure and property of recrystallized high-energy-electron irradiated P(VDF-TrFE)

A study of recrystallization on high-energy electron irradiated poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDFTrFE)] copolymer with composition 65/35 mol% is reported in this paper. Electron irradiated copolymer P(VDF-TrFE) exhibits a high electromechanical performance that is attractive for many applications. The structure and morphology of the recrystallized samples were determined using DSC, X-ray diffraction and FTIR. The polarization behavior of the recrystallized samples was also studied. The nonpolar phase content in the recrystallized samples was much lower than that in the irradiated samples. For irradiated samples that exhibited the best electromechanical performance, the corresponding recrystallized material had a high polar phase content, correspondingly a high remanent polarization was observed. For samples irradiated with higher doses, which have low polarization levels, after recrystallization the material exhibited a much higher polarization level with a very small remanent polarization, an attractive combination for many electromechanical applications.