What are the characteristics of PEEK modified with special engineering plastics?
The reason why special engineering plastics are so popular is that they can enhance their properties by adding composite materials. Modified plastics have better mechanical properties, making up for their shortcomings of high brittleness, poor toughness, and low strength. The most common method is to add glass fiber and carbon fiber. Let's take a look at the characteristics and applications of modified PEEK together!
Firstly, glass fiber reinforcement. The glass transition temperature of PEEK resin is significantly lower than that of high-temperature resistant amorphous plastics, but the addition of glass fibers precisely makes up for this deficiency. Strengthening PEEK composite materials can compensate for or enhance the shortcomings of PEEK performance, improve its heat resistance and bending resistance, improve its processing performance, reduce costs, and enhance corrosion resistance, achieving comprehensive performance better than single component PEEK raw materials. At the same time, PEEK without any antioxidant added will undergo degradation and cross-linking of its own molecular chains with the extension of insulation time in the molten state, resulting in an increase in polymer viscosity and a decrease in some properties, seriously affecting the processing performance and product stability of PEEK.
Secondly, PEEK resin itself has a low coefficient of friction and is a good self-lubricating material. Carbon fiber reinforcement enhances its toughness, and the addition of carbon fiber not only increases its mechanical properties, but also has an important impact on its friction performance. 30% carbon fiber reinforced PEEK composite material has a tensile strength that is twice that of unreinforced material at room temperature, and three times that of unreinforced material at 150 ℃. At the same time, the reinforced composite material also has significant improvements in impact strength, bending strength, and modulus, with a sharp decrease in elongation and a thermal deformation temperature exceeding 300 ℃. This product has good wear resistance, excellent chemical resistance, and heat resistance. It is mainly used to make products with low friction coefficient and low friction consumption requirements, such as gears, high-temperature shaft sleeves, sliding bearings, etc.
In addition to these, PEEK can also be modified with other properties such as PTFE and graphite to enhance other properties, making its range of use increasingly wide. In the future, more modified plastics will appear in our lives.
