Investigation of the Role of additive and production method on the formation of β Phase and Piezoelectricity in PVDF-SiC Composites

To achieve the highest piezoelectric properties in PVDF, the formation of the β-phase is of particular importance. This research aims to investigate the simultaneous effect of the production method and additive content on the formation of β-phase. So PVDF-SiC composites containing different amounts of SiC were produced by electrospinning, casting, and hot compression molding and the existing phases, crystallinity percentage, and type of crystalline phase of PVDF and piezoelectric properties of the specimens were determined. For the electrospun and cast samples, the electroactive and crystalline phases were β and γ, respectively. The hot compression molded samples contained a small fraction of β-phase as their electroactive phase, while their crystalline phase was α. The electrospun specimens had the highest amount of electroactive phase, percentage of crystallinity and sensitivity. It can be concluded that the production method determines the type of PVDF phase and the additive can affect the amount of phases.