Piezoelectric Effect in Oriented Polyvinylchloride and Polyvinylflouride

The direct piezoelectric effect has been observed in roll-elongated films of polyvinylchloride and polyvinylfluoride. The effect was produced by applying tensile stress to a clamped specimen at a fixed frequency of 20 Hz. The piezoelectric modulus g31 was determined to be 0.2 to 0.7 V m−1/N m−2 in polyvinylchloride; in polyvinylfluoride g31 ≃ 0.2 V m−1/N m−2 and g32 ≃ 1 V m−1/N m−2. The piezoelectric effect in these films is believed to be due to mechanical distortion of oriented dipoles, resulting from the tensile stress, and the orientation appears to differ in the two materials.