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Isothermal crystallization behavior of nano‐alumina particles‐filled poly(ether ether ketone) composites
Author(s) -
Wu J. H.,
Yen M. S.,
Chen C. W.,
Kuo M. C.,
Tsai F. K.,
Kuo J. S.,
Yang L. H.,
Huang J. C.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.35664
Subject(s) - peek , materials science , crystallization , composite material , crystallinity , nucleation , differential scanning calorimetry , polymer , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , physics , engineering , thermodynamics
The isothermal crystallization behavior of nano‐alumina particle‐filled poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) composites has been investigated using differential scanning calorimeter. The results show that all the neat PEEK and nano‐alumina‐filled PEEK composites exhibit the double‐melting behavior under isothermal crystallization. The peak crystallization times (τ p ) for all the neat PEEK and PEEK/aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) composites increase with increasing crystallization temperature. Moreover, the crystallinity of the PEEK/Al 2 O 3 composite with 7.5 wt % nano‐filler content reached the maximum value of 44.8% at 290°C, higher than that of the neat PEEK polymer. From the lower value in τ p and higher value in X c for the PEEK/Al 2 O 3 composites, the inclusion of the nano‐alumina into the PEEK matrix favored the occurrence of heterogeneous nucleation. The Avrami exponents n of all the neat PEEK and PEEK/Al 2 O 3 composites ranged from 2 to 3, and the n values for PEEK/Al 2 O 3 composites were slightly higher than that of the neat PEEK polymer, indicating that the inclusion of the nano‐filler made the crystallization mechanism more complex. However, the growth rate of crystallization was lowered as the nano‐ filler was introduced, and the decrease in growth rate reduced the grain size of the PEEK spherulites because of the lowering of molecule mobility during isothermal crystallization. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012