Polymer Analyses for an Adapted Process Design of the Pipe-Extrusion of Polyetherimide

Abstract

Over the last years, the use of high performance thermoplastic materials increased significantly especially in aviation applications. Thus, the processing of these high temperature polymers became more and more interesting. Especially, the groups of polymers like polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), polyether ether ketone (PEEK) or polyetherimide (PEI) are in the focus of recent developments and investigations. These materials show excellent thermal, mechanical and chemical properties while processing remains still challenging. Especially the influence of processing temperatures, temperature depending viscosities, the specific heat capacities and the thermal expansion show a high impact to the quality of the produced parts, e.g. degradation and dimensionally stability. Thus, this paper shows experimental characterizations in regard to the processing of PEI by pipe extrusion processes. In this context, a suitable methodology for the determination of appropriate process parameters is shown, which includes the comprehensive determination of temperature dependent thermal, thermomechanical and degradation properties of specific PEI extrusion materials.