Effect of Various Sintering Temperatures on the Friction and Mechanical Properties of PEEK/PTFE Blends

Abstract

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) has a very low coefficient of friction and outstanding corrosion resistance, but its limited use is due to high wear and tear and low hardness. Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) offers low wear, high temperature resistance and a slightly higher coefficient of friction. In the research we describe here we examined the mechanical and tribological properties of PEEK/PTFE blends manufactured at various sintering temperatures (350 °C–390 °C). The experimental data demonstrated that the PEEK/PTFE blends exhibited the highest tensile strength, 22.97 Mpa, when sintered at 380 °C, making them the most resistant to breaking or deforming. The elongation at break increased with the increase of sintering temperature, and the highest value of elongation at break for the PEEK/PTFE blends was 429.16% when sintered at 390 °C, and the lowest value was 283.37% when sintered at 350 °C. The PEEK/PTFE blends exhibited the lowest coefficient of friction, measuring 0.174, when sintered at 350 °C. The lowest mass abrasion rate for the PEEK/PTFE blends was 6.04 × 10−7 mm3/N·m when sintered at 360 °C.