High Temperature Organic Nucleating Agents for Polyetheretherketone/Glass Fibre Composites

Hightemperature organic nucleating agents were prepared by plasma polymerization inorder to improve the interfacial shear strength of the bond betweenpolyetheretherketone (PEEK) and glass fibres through the formation of a transcrystallinelayer. Four organosilicon monomers were used to treat the glass fibres. Theplasma polymers may have altered the surface morphology and free energy of thefibres, and they were durable in molten PEEK (400°C). Experimental resultsindicate that those glass fibre surfaces treated with plasma polymers having agrain-like morphology, namely hexamethyldisilazane, hexamethyldisiloxane andtetramethylsilane, allowed a transcrystalline layer to form. This increased theinterfacial shear strength by 152%, 143% and 133%, respectively. The shearstrength was also 143%, 133% and 125% higher than when treated with couplingagent only.