Physical basis for piezoelectricity in PVDF

Abstract Consideration of the molecular and bulk structures of PVDF and related semicrystalline polymers, and the effects of processing to make transducer films, leads to a novel way of analysing the elastic and piezoelectric constant data. The results of this analysis support the conclusion that thickness changes contribute about 2/3 of the piezoelectric activity. An increase in thickness decreases the charge on the electrodes. The probable mechanism is simply the displacement of the electrodes in the fields of the constant dipole moments of the crystals. The remaining 1/3 of the activity is attributed to changes in the film's dipole moment at constant thickness. Strains in the orientation direction of the film increase the charge on the surface while strains in the plane of the film normal to the orientation direction decrease it. Eight separate possible contributions to the change in moment are discussed, and qualitative evaluations of their importance are given.