Thermal, crystalline, and tribological properties of PEEK/PEI/PES plastics alloys

PEEK/PEI/PES plastics alloys in weight ratios of 70/30/0, 70/25/5, 65/30/5, 60/30/10, 60/35/5, and the three kinds of single high performance engineering plastics 100/0/0, 0/100/0, 0/0/100 were prepared by twin-screw extrusion molding. A single glass-transition temperature (T-g) of each alloy in the former five kinds of the plastics alloys could be measured by DSC and always rose to higher one than that of the pure PEEK by about 20 degrees C. The crystalline degrees of these alloys could also ascended to more than 35.81% higher than that of the pure PEEK, especially for the alloy of the ratio 60/30/10 reached the maximum crystalline degree 37.76%. Adding PEI or PEI and PES, the crystalline temperatures of the PEEK alloys were decreased. The wear resistances of the alloys under dry sliding condition were considerably improved compared with pure PEI or PES, and the specific wear rate of the pure PEI or PES were four to six times as large as that of the alloys. However, the specific wear rates of the alloys were six to eight times larger than that of the pure PEEK, and the friction coefficients of the alloys were higher than that of the pure PEEK for 0.20.3. The polymeric transferred film on the steel ring surface against the alloys could be found, but no film on that against pure PES or PEI was found. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013