Recrystallization study of high-energy electron-irradiated P(VDF-TrFE) 65/35 copolymer

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