The control of interfacial interaction between polymers and fillers is essential for the fabrication of high-performance polymer composites. In this work, poly(ether-ether-ketone)/silica (PEEK/SiO2) and PEEK/SiO2/graphene oxide (GO) composite were prepared by ball milling-ultrasonic dispersion combined with melt extrusion injection molding. GO nanosheets were introduced as the interfacial enhancer to improve interfacial binding between SiO2 and PEEK. Mechanical tests showed that the incorporation of SiO2 and GO greatly optimized the modulus, strength, and fracture toughness of the composites. The tensile strength and Young's modulus of the PEEK/SiO2 composites increases with the increase of SiO2 content. The maximum tensile strength and Young's modulus of the PEEK/SiO2 composites are approximate 95.9 ± 0.6 MPa and 4.007 ± 0.005 GPa at 30 wt% of SiO2, an increase of 6.4% and 21.2% than that of pure PEEK. The maximum tensile strength and Young's modulus of the PEEK/SiO2/GO composite are further improved to approximate 101.5 ± 0.7 MPa and 4.62 ± 0.08 GPa at a GO content of 1.5% wt, which is 12.6% and 39.4% higher than that of pure PEEK. In addition, SEM images show that numerous HA formed on the surface of the PEEK/SiO2/GO composite after immersion in SBF for 7 days, and the HA layer becomes gradually thicker after 14 days, implying the good osteogenic activity of PEEK/SiO2/GO composites. Therefore, these results suggest that the use of GO as a novel filler surface modifier for the preparation of high-performance composites may become a novel interfacial design strategy for the development of high-performance composites.
Keywords: Composites; Graphene oxide; Interfacial reinforcement; PEEK; Silica.
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