(1992) Sessler, Gerhard M.; Das-Gupta, Dilip K.; deReggi, Aimé S.; Eisenmenger, Wolfgang; Furukawa, Takeo; Giacometti, José A.; Gerhard-Multhaupt, Reimund
In a homogeneous medium space charges cannot cause piezo or pyroeiectricity. If stressed, there will be affine geometrical changes throughout the medium, and therefore the induction charges on the electrodes will remain the same, and piezoelectricity cannot be generated. However, if dipoles are present in such a homogeneous dielectric, then piezoelectricity is possible. In an inhomogeneous medium such as a semicrystalline polymer, charges and dipoles can cause piezoelectricity. If you have, for instance, a semicrystalline polymer then the crystalline and the amorphous parts are, upon compression, subjected to different degrees of deformation; and for this reason, a piezoelectric effect can be generated.
Charge spreading in three different types of Teflon electrets was studied by means of piezoelectrically generated pressure steps, FEP and PFA samples corona-charged at room temperature usually exhibited only a surface charge layer. Uniform charge spreading throughout the bulk was found in FEP charged at or heated to high temperatures. Charge spreading was much less prominent in PFA because of a smaller retrapping efficiency. In PTFE (polytetrafluorethylene), charges from the surface and the rear electrode were injected into the bulk during charging at any temperature. Electron-beam-deposited charge layers broadened significantly upon heating.