Polyvinyl fluoride
polymer
Polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) or –(CH2CHF)n– is a polymer material mainly used in the flammability-lowering coatings of airplane interiors and photovoltaic module backsheets. It is also used in raincoats and metal sheeting. Polyvinyl fluoride is a thermoplastic fluoropolymer with a repeating vinyl fluoride unit, and it is structurally very similar to polyvinyl chloride.
History
The PVF-based film was first commercialised in 1961 by DuPont under the name Tedlar.
Polymerization
The most widely used polymerizations of VF are in aqueous suspensions or emulsions. High pressures are required because of the VF volatility. The high electronegativity of fluorine makes the polymerization more difficult when compared to other vinyl halides. The polymerization temperatures range from 50 °C to 150 °C and can affect the crystallinity, melting point and branching of the product. Initiation is done by peroxides or azo compounds.
The resonance stabilization of the propagating intermediate (VF radical) is poor, which often leads to monomer reversals, branching and chain-transfer reactions.
The public source identifies “Polyvinyl fluoride” as polymer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Polyvinyl, fluoride and polymer.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q146403. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1961.
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This entry incorporates text from “Polyvinyl fluoride” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.