Investigation of the Effect of Mechanical Activation of Powder Components on the Properties of Polyimide Composites

Abstract

This study presents the results of an analysis of the influence of joint mechanical activation of a polyimide matrix and tungsten (IV) oxide (WO2) on the mechanical properties of their composites. Mechanical activation of the powder components of the matrix and the filler is performed in a vortex jet mill. The ultimate tensile strength, tensile modulus and relative elongation at break of the composites are all investigated. When using mechanical activation, an increase in tensile strength of 9% is observed with a content of 30 wt.% WO2 filler and of 12% with a content of 70 wt.% WO2 filler compared to composites in which the joint mechanical activation of components is not used. Using scanning electron microscopy, it is shown that the use of mechanical activation by dispersing in a jet-vortex mill made it possible to achieve a uniform distribution of highly dispersed filler based on tungsten dioxide in a polyimide matrix.