Improvement in the mechanical and friction performance of poly(ether ether ketone) composites by addition of modificatory short carbon fibers and zinc oxide

Abstract

The composites of poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and short carbon fibers (SCFs) were produced with twin-screw extruder. ZnO nanoparticles were modified by γ-aminopropyl triethoxyl silane (APTES), and SCFs were wrapped with poly(ether sulfone) (PES). Morphological examination showed that the modified ZnO (m-ZnO) nanoparticles and wrapped SCFs (w-SCFs) were well dispersed in PEEK. The tribological behavior of PEEK composites under dry friction conditions was studied using a universal micro-tribotester. Exhaustive experimental results showed that the tribological behaviors, or the mechanical and thermal properties of the composites after the addition of m-ZnO nanoparticles and w-SCFs, were improved. The tribological properties of PEEK/ZnO/SCFs composites with 5.0 wt% functionalized ZnO and 10.0 wt% w-SCFs are the minimum.