Zinc oxide nanorod as effective reinforcing material for enhancing β phase crystal in poly(vinylidene fluoride) filaments

The present work is an attempt to demonstrate that incorporation of small amount of zinc oxide nanorods enhances the β crystal percentage, which is essential for improvement in piezo-electric performance of the poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) fiber. The zinc oxide nanorods were synthesized with aspect ratio of 26 and uniformly dispersed in PVDF by melt compounding process. Those compounded polymers were melt spun and subsequently cold drawn to obtain composite filaments. The effect of nanostructure, loading amount, melt draw ratio, cold draw ratio, and drawing temperature was investigated. The incorporation of nanorods resulted in 14% increase in β phase crystal content compared to control PVDF filaments. The β phase crystal content has been analyzed using the wide-angle X ray diffraction and FTIR spectroscopy. This increase in β phase crystal content was 10% more compared to circular zinc oxide nanoparticle reinforced PVDF composite filament. There was no significant change in mechanical properties of the composite filaments compared to the control PVDF filament.