High polyketone fiber

Although PK-EP-6 can be solution-spun with excellent results (162), the most feasible/economic way to produce fibers is via melt-spinning. Melt-spim aliphatic polyketone fibers can be stretched to high ratios, yielding high levels of molecular orientation, and so strong and stiff fibers, as is demonstrated in Figure 8. 

Polyketone, produced by Asahi Kasei, is seen as a new high-strength fiber similar to aramid fiber, but the price is lower than aramid. This fiber has a molecular structure, which includes carbon monoxide and is also composed of ethylene. Thus, it contains only carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, which need a low manufacturing cost compared to other high-strength fiber. Table 2.66 shows a comparison of performance between polyketone fiber and other fibers [70]. 

A number of plastics are condensation polymers and include polyesters and nylons that are not as highly oriented as the same materials but in fiber form. Other plastics have been developed that have outstanding heat stability, strength, and other properties that allow their wide use. These plastics include polycarbonates, polyimides, polybenzimidazoles, polysulfides, polyethers, polysulfones, and polyketones. 

LNP Engineering Plastics [12] introduced a series of formulations based on polyketone-reinforced glass and carbon fiber with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) as lubricant. These polymers have good impact performances for a wide temperature range they have high chemical resistance, good hydrolytic stability, and superior resilience. 

There are many polymers with high-temperature resistant fibers, most of them with textile properties (low tenacity, high elongation) (see Table 17.7). Their application is in insulation, hot gas filtration, and suchlike. Large products are meta-meta aramid (Nomex, Teijin-Conex) and polybenzimidazole (PBI). Smaller products are poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS), several aromatic polyketones (for example poly(ether ether ketone), PEEK) and aromatic polysulfones see Reference 9, Chapters 8 and 9. 

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