Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
The ferroelectric switching curve of vinylidene fluoride / trifluoroethylene copolymer exhibits a characteristic time evolution consisting of two processes; an initial gradual increase in proportion to t 0 5 followed by a rapid increase according to an exponential function with particularly large exponent 6. Such a switching curve was analyzed by means of computer simulation based on a modified nucleation-growth mechanism. It was found that the initial gradual increase is attributed to generation of considerably large nuclei that grow according to a random-walk scheme. Once such nuclei gain a critical size, they start to grow automatically either one or two dimensionally. The time required to generate critical nuclei serves as an incubation time for the later growth process to result in the large exponent.