Advantages and Disadvantages of Polyketones
Advantages
- High continuous use temperature (480F)
- High toughness, especially at high temperatures.
- Outstanding wear resistance
- Excellent water resistance and better than thermoset composites
- Excellent mechanical properties
- Very low flammability and smoke generation
- Resistant to high levels of gamma radiation
- Higher Elongation (30%-100%) versus thermosets (1%-10%)
Disadvantages
- High material cost and long processing times
- High processing temperatures due to high viscosities (1 Million poise) versus thermoset composites (Epoxy = 10 poise). Syrup = 1000 poise
- Moderate or poor resistance to hot oils
- Difficult to have high fiber loadings due to high viscosity
- Need special processing techniques; comingle plastic powder with fiber sheet and consolidate (impregnate resin in fiber bundle) through heated rollers.