Polymer, Vol.63, 10-18, 2015
Production and characterization of melt-spun Poly(Ether Ether Ketone) fibers for biomedical applications
Melt-spun Poly (Ether Ether Ketone) (PEEK) fibers were produced on a custom built melt-spinning system. Fibers of two different grades were spun at two different draw-down ratios, with one of three possible post-spinning treatments: as-spun, annealed, or hot drawn. Fibers were characterized with SEM, DSC, WAXS, and tensile testing. Hot drawn fibers had the highest degree of crystalline orientation (S = 0.81). Modulus, strength, and yield stress, were found to be 1.7 GPa, 175 MPa, and 45 MPa, respectively for as-spun fibers. As-spun fibers had strains-to-failure as high as 215%, which decreased to about 25% after hot drawing. Annealed and drawn fibers had similar crystallinity and crystalline orientation, but drawn fibers had significantly higher moduli of 2.8 GPa and 5.2 GPa, and strength of 195 MPa and 480 MPa, respectively. Fiber properties were found to be tunable to a number of combinations, with potential for numerous applications as novel biomaterials. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.