Polyaryletherketone Based Blends: A Review

This review aims to report the status of the research on polyaryletherketone-based thermoplastic blends (PAEK). PAEK are high-performance copolymers able to replace metals in many applications including those related to the environmental and energy transition. PAEK lead to the extension of high-performance multifunctional materials to target embedded electronics, robotics, aerospace, medical devices and prostheses. Blending PAEK with other thermostable thermoplastic polymers is a viable option to obtain materials with new affordable properties. First, this study investigates the miscibility of each couple. Due to different types of interactions, PAEK-based thermoplastic blends go from fully miscible (with some polyetherimides) to immiscible (with polytetrafluoroethylene). Depending on the ether-to-ketone ratio of PAEK as well as the nature of the second component, a large range of crystalline structures and blend morphologies are reported. The PAEK-based thermoplastic blends are elaborated by melt-mixing or solution blending. Then, the effect of the composition and blending preparation on the mechanical properties are investigated. PAEK-based thermoplastic blends give rise to the possibility of tuning their properties to design novel materials. However, we demonstrate hereby that significant research effort is needed to overcome the lack of knowledge on the structure/morphology/property relationships for those types of high-performance thermoplastic blends.