Intramolecular Crosslinking of Polyvinylidene Fluoride by Homogeneous Solution Irradiation.

Intramolecular crosslinking of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) was observed to have occurred when the PVDF homogeneous solution was subject to γ-ray irradiation, which was confirmed by characterization of PVDF before and after irradiation via FTIR, the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), viscosity measurement and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). This constitutes a contrast to the frequent occurrence of intermolecular crosslinking that takes place when PVDF is irradiated in a solid state. Such a finding increases our understanding of the radiation effects of polymers. Based on the experimental results, a possible crosslinking mechanism is also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]