Manufacturing and analysis of nano-fullerene reinforced peek matrix composite materials

Polymer-based materials are widely used across various industries, including automotive, medical, aerospace, electronics, and construction. While these materials are attractive due to their favorable performance-to-cost ratio, they also exhibit certain limitations, such as relatively low melting temperatures and variability in mechanical properties. These limitations restrict the use of polymers in certain applications; however, ongoing research focuses on developing polymer composite materials by incorporating various types of additives into the polymer matrix. Numerous studies in the literature have demonstrated that polymer matrix composites enhanced with nano- or micro-sized particles or fibers can significantly improve mechanical, thermal, optical, and electrical conductivity properties. In this study, the high-performance thermoplastic polymer PEEK, commonly used in the aerospace industry, was compounded with nano-sized fullerene at various ratios using the twin-screw extrusion method. The resulting composites were investigated in terms of their tensile strength, morphological structure, thermomechanical properties, and thermal stability behavior. The results revealed that the highest tensile strength and Young's modulus were achieved at a 0.5 wt% fullerene content, showing a 12.8% improvement compared to pure PEEK. At low filler concentrations, such as 0.2 wt%, a homogeneous and nanoscale dispersion was observed, contributing positively to the enhancement of material properties. However, with increasing filler content, microstructural heterogeneities in the form of particle agglomeration became evident. Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) indicated that the addition of fullerene enhances the thermomechanical properties of PEEK, with 0.5 wt% offering the most balanced performance. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) results demonstrated that even small amounts of fullerene in the PEEK matrix can improve thermal stability by controlling the material's thermal degradation behavior.