COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF POLY(ARYL ETHER KETONE) IN BINARY BLENDS, WITH POLY(ETHER SULFONE) AND POLY(ETHER IMIDE)

The influence of the amorphous polymers poly(ether sulfone) (PES) and poly(ether imide) (PEI) on the crystallization of the semi-crystalline poly(ether ketone ether ketone ketone) (PEKEKK) was investigated by o ptical microscopy, d.s.c. and wide-angle X-ray scattering. The miscibi lity was estimated by measuring the glass transition temperatures. The different miscibilities of the investigated polymer systems were corr elated to their crystallization behaviour. The half-time of crystalliz ation of PEKEKK is increased in the miscible system PEKEKK/PEI whereas in the immiscible system PEKEKK/PES the half-time of crystallization runs through a maximum. Compared to pure PEKEKK the normalized crystal linity is higher in PEKEKK/PEI blends and slightly lower in PEKEKK/PES blend. The unit cell parameters of the crystalline PEKEKK phase are n ot changed in the blends. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.