Abstract:

The zinc aluminum alloy (ZA8)?filled PEEK composites were prepared by a compression molding method, and the effects of ZA8 content and the solid additives of graphite and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) on their mechanical and tribological properties were investigated. The results indicated that the mechanical properties of the composites increased at first and then tended to decrease with an increase of ZA8 content. The composites achieved the maximum impact strength of 16.21 kJ/m² and the tensile strength of 111.59 MPa at the ZA8 content of 10 wt%, which increased by 10.3 % and 3.9 %, respectively, compared to pure PEEK. Their friction coefficients exhibited a continuous decrease with an increase of ZA8 content and presented the minimum value of 0.275 at the ZA8 content of 40 wt%, which decreased by 38.6 % compared to pure PEEK. Moreover, the friction coefficient decreased by 38.6 % when 10 wt% of ZA8 content was incorporated into PEEK. At this content, the composites obtained the lowest abrasion loss of 7.2 mg, which was 43.3 % lower than that of pure PEEK. The addition of graphite and PTFE effectively reduced the abrasion loss of the composite. The optimum tribological properties were achieved by the addition of 10 wt% PTFE alone, and the composites gained a friction coefficient of 0.22 and an abrasion loss of 4.3 mg, which were 50.9 % and 66.1 % lower than those of pure PEEK, respectively.

Key words: zinc aluminum, polyetheretherketone, mechanical property, tribological property