Bioinspired nacre-like PEEK material with superior tensile strength and impact toughness.

ABSTRACT: A bioinspired PEEK material with hard "bricks" of nanoscale lamellae and micron-scale deformed spherulites bonded by soft "mortar" of a rigid amorphous fraction was produced with a pressure-induced flow (PIF) processing applied in the solid-state. Novel mechanisms were proposed for the marked and simultaneous improvement in the strength and toughness, where the tensile strength and impact strength could be increased to ∼200% and ∼450%, respectively. On one hand, the rotation, recombination and restacking of the crystalline blocks formed an oriented and stratified morphology similar to the "brick-and-mortar" structure in nacre, and resulted in the confined crack propagations and the tortuous energy dissipating paths. On the other hand, the PIF-relaxation due to the newly generated rigid amo

SUBMITTER: Zhu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9125775 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature