Ferroelectric and electromechanical properties of poly(vinylidene-fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorotrifluoroethylene) terpolymer

This letter reports the ferroelectric and electromechanical properties of a class of ferroelectric polymer, poly (vinylidene-fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorotrifluoroethylene) terpolymer, which exhibits a slim polarization hysteresis loop and a high electrostrictive strain at room temperature. The dielectric and polarization behaviors of this terpolymer are typical of the ferroelectric relaxer. The x-ray and Fourier transform infrared results reveal that the random incorporation of bulky chlorotrifluoroethylene (CTFE) ter-monomers into polymer chains causes disordering of the ferroelectric phase, Furthermore, CTFE also acts as random defect fields which randomize the inter- and intrachain polar coupling, resulting in the observed ferroelectric relaxer behavior. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.