Effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on thermal, optical and structural properties of poly vinylidene chloride

• The effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on Poly vinylidene chloride (PVDC) is reported in the present paper.
• The distinguishable characteristic peaks were observed due to UV–Vis analysis, in lithium irradiated samples at higher fluences of PVDC.
• Lower irradiation doses in PVDC result in modification of structural properties and higher doses lead to complete degradation.

Poly vinylidene chloride (PVDC) irradiated with lithium (50 MeV), carbon (85 MeV), nickel (120 MeV) and silver ions (120 MeV) having fluence range of 1 × 1011 ions/cm2 to 3 × 1012 ions/cm2 have been studied using different techniques i.e. XRD (X-ray diffraction), FTIR (Fourier transform infrared), UV–Visible and TGA (thermo-gravimetric analysis). In XRD analysis, the intensity of diffraction peaks of PVDC irradiated with lithium ions was enhanced at lower fluence as compared to pristine. The shift in optical absorption edge in irradiated PVDC was correlated with the decrease in optical band gap energy. The distinguishable characteristic peaks were observed due to UV–Vis analysis, in lithium irradiated samples of PVDC at higher fluences. The % age decrease in optical band gap energy for the respective ions were 30.9%, 34.16%, 81.1%, 87.02% respectively. Formation of double carbon bonds and breaking of C–O and C–Cl bonds with the release of Cl in irradiated PVDC was observed in FTIR spectra. In Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), the % age weight loss observed for irradiated samples with increase in ion fluence was lesser than the % age weight loss observed in pristine sample.