Thermomechanical characterization of PVDF and P(VDF-TrFE) blends containing corn starch and natural rubber

Abstract

Films of poly(vinylidene fluoride), PVDF, and poly(vinylidene fluoride – trifluoroethylene), P(VDF-TrFE), containing corn starch and latex of natural rubber as additives were produced by compressing/annealing forming blends visioning applications as biomaterials. Therefore, considering the possible applications of these blends, a basic characterization has been carried out targeting to infer on their thermomechanical properties. The polymer films (PVDF and P(VDF-TrFE)) with different percentage of additives were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetry (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamical-mechanical analysis (DMA). The compressing/annealing process allowed discarding the necessity of using the solvents to dissolve either PVDF or P(VDF-TrFE), which are usually toxic to human. The results showed that the polymers do not interact chemically with the additives with the blends showing high thermal stability and elasticity modulus at the same order of magnitude of the bone, for instance. The SEM imaged revealed that the blends present morphological structures of typical physical mixtures where each material can be identified within the blends.