Real-time investigation of crystallization in poly(vinylidene fluoride)-based nano-composites probed by infrared spectroscopy

Via time-resolved Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), we examined the real-time investigation of the conformational changes of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) chain segment during crystallization of neat PVDF and the corresponding nano-composites having intercalated structure. It was shown that in the following crystallization processes the crystal growth was virtually the same in both nano-composites and neat PVDF. We have examined an annealing at an infinitely long time at 200 degrees C (similar to 20 min) to erase the thermal history in the nano-composites. The dispersed titanate nano-filler particles exhibited strong contribution to enhance the heterogeneous nucleation for the formation of both gamma- and beta-phase crystals. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.