Polyetheretherketone blends with excellent properties achieved via crosslinkable polyetherimide at high temperatures

With the development of science and technology, polymer materials that work at high temperatures are widely needed. However, currently available polymers are limited to relatively low operating temperatures, with various properties rapidly degrading at high temperatures. Here, with crosslinked polyetherimide (c-PEI), polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is modified by mechanical blending and extrusion granulation to prepare c-PEI/PEEK polymer blends. Compared with the commercial polyetherimide (s-PEI) without crosslinking groups, the construction of its crosslinking network in c-PEI further restricts the movement of molecular segments and more significantly improves the thermodynamic properties of PEEK at high temperature. This work systematically investigates the effect of the crosslinking degree of polymer blends on performance and balances processability and other properties by controlling the crosslinking degree. Furthermore, this work demonstrates a feasible strategy to fabricate high-performance polymer materials with high temperature resistance.