Thermally stimulated current and infrared studies of copolymer films of VDF and 5 mol.% TFE

Copolymerization of vinylidenefluoride (VDF) with tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) leads to a considerably higher /spl beta/-phase content than the copolymerization with trifluoroethylene (TrFE). This is confirmed by comparison of the IR spectra of the copolymers and the homopolymers. The IR spectra of uniaxially stretched copolymer films of VDF and 5 mol.% TFE show the absence of bands attributed to the a phase in contrast to the respective spectra of the homopolymer. Two peaks are found in the curve of the thermally stimulated current for these polymers above room temperature. An analysis of these peaks allows us to obtain a two-dimensional distribution of relaxation times (energy and frequency factors).