Morphological study of PVDF and PVDF/P(VDF-TrFE) blends.

Author(s)

Rosa Cristina Capitão

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC/BT)
• Defense date: 2002-03-08

Examining board members

Rinaldo Gregorio Filho; Elias Hage Junior; Luiz Henrique Capparelli Mattoso

• Advisor: Rinaldo Gregorio Filho

Abstract

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is a semi crystalline polymer that, when is crystallized from the melt at temperatures above 155°C, it presents a multiform morphology composed of ringed, non-ringed and mixed spherulites. Above this temperature only ringed spherulites are formed. In this work a morphological study of PVDF was performed, endeavoring to investigate the relation between the type of spherulite formed and the dominant crystalline phase in their lamellas. Infrared spectroscopy showed that the ringed spherulites are formed exclusively by the alpha phase when crystallization takes place at temperatures below 155°C. Higher temperatures induce a solid-state alpha in gamma phase transformation in these structures, increasing the amount of gamma phase with crystallization time. The rate at which this transformation takes place increases with crystallization temperature. The non-ringed spherulites consist predominantly of the gamma phase, crystallized from the melt, with small alpha phase inclusions. The melt process of the different spherulites, observed by optical microscopy (MOLP) and calorimetric measurements (DSC) showed that the melt temperature of the gamma phase originated from the phase transition is 8°C higher than that crystallized directly from the melt. Micrographs of samples heated up to 186°C and quickly cooled allowed visualization of the ringed spherulite regions, which underwent the alpha in gamma phase transformation at different crystallization times and temperatures. In addition, it was observed a morphological study of blends, with different compositions and the copolymer containing 72 mol% of VDF. Thermal analysis (DSC) showed that blend components are immiscible on crystalline phase, when the crystallization from the melt occurs. However, micrographs obtained from MOLP and MEV indicated the presence of copolymer on spherulites interlamellar regions, formed during PVDF crystallization. This result suggests miscibility between the components in the liquid state, and this intimate mixture must remain during crystallization, resulting in miscibility of the components in amorphous phase. (AU)