Field-induced phase transitions in phase-II poly(vinylidene fluoride)

Abstract
A calculation of the free energy of both the polar and nonpolar forms of phase‐II poly(vinylidene fluoride) has been performed by means of a generalized mean‐field approximation. The results show the nonpolar form to be lower in free energy than the polar form, and provide a good estimate of the critical electric field necessary to cause the recently observed, nonpolar‐polar phase transition in this material.