Polyether-ether-ketone surfaces

Wang A, Lin R, Polineni VK, Essner A, Stark C, Dumbleton JH, Carbon fiber reinforced polyether ether ketone composite as a bearing surface for total hip replacement. Tribology International, 31(11), 661-667, 1998. 

Zhou et al. [173] studied the effects of surface treatment of calcium carbonate particles with sulfonated polyether ether ketone on the mechanical and thermal properties of composites with polyether ether ketone in various proportions prepared using a twin-screw extruder. These workers used tensile, impact, and flexural testing, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and scanning electron microscopy. The influences of filler particle, loading, and surface treatment on deformation and crystallinity of polyether ether ketone were discussed. 

Another intrinsic approach has been proposed by Li et al. (2010). This time, the polymer network itself was used to heal the hydrophobicity by molecule displacement. The coating employed was made using layer-by-layer deposition of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) with sulfonated polyether-ether-ketone (SPEEK) and polyacrylic acid (PAA) with final addition of lH,lH,2H,2H-perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (POTS) by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) on the PAH-SPEEK/PAA coating. After removal of surface layers by O2 plasma, hydrophobicity was restored as a function of time and relative ambient humidity. 

Various types of surface-anchor interactions are responsible for the adsorption of a dispersant to the particle surface. These include ionic or acid/base interactions sulphonic acid, carboxylic acid or phosphate with a basic surface (e.g., alumina) amine or quaternary with an acidic surface (e.g., silica) H-bonding surface esters, ketones, ethers, hydroxyls multiple anchors-polyamines and polyols (H-bond donor or acceptor) or polyethers (H-bond acceptor). Polarizing groups (e.g., polyurethanes) can also provide sufficient adsorption energies and, in nonspecific cases, lyophobic bonding (via van der Waals attractions) driven by insolubility (e.g., PMMA). It is also possible to use chemical bonding, for example by reactive silanes. 

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