Characterization of Mechanical and Electromechanical Properties of Aluminum-Coated Poled Orthotropic PVDF Film

Poled PVDF film is a piezoelectric polymer currently utilized in sensing and actuation applications. We investigate the stress–strain behavior of the material as a function of the angle to the stretch direction. These properties were measured using mechanical testing and full-field strain imaging and compared with off-axis analytical formulations. Orthotropic material models are proposed for the elastic strain and charge relationships coupled with Hill’s orthotropic yield function to capture the directional dependence of yield strength in the poled PVDF under high strains. Additionally, the in-plane piezoelectric strain coefficients d31, d32, and d36 were measured to aid in the design of PVDF metamaterials.