Thermal, mechanical and dielectric behaviour of poly(aryl ether ketone) with low melting temperature

New poly(aryl ether ketone)s (PAEKs) with a low melting temperature (relative to PEEK) are of interest in order to simplify the manufacturing of high-performance polymers or composites. In this study, we propose to investigate the physical properties of a new PAEK from Victrex, namely PAEK LM. Combinations of thermal analyses were used as follows: standard and modulated temperature differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis, dynamic dielectric analysis and guarded hot plate technique. We found that the global mechanical, dielectric and thermal properties are very similar to the PEEK reference. The glass transition temperature was observed in the same range than PEEK (approximate to 150 degrees C) while the melting temperature T-m was measured at 307 degrees C for PAEK LM which is about 35 degrees C below the melting temperature of PEEK. The degree of crystallinity of PAEK LM was found to be 27% while for PEEK it is 38%, depending on the processing conditions. This work explored crystalline structure-property relationships to explain the behaviour of PAEK LM.