Post ISC heat treatment of TP LM-PAEK skin segments

Abstract

The introduction of an annealing cycle as a possible second process step to in-situ consolidation was investigated for Laser and Flashlamp AFP processes in order to actively avoid adverse effects due to high cooling rates in T-AFP. As is known, quenching leads to low crystallinity of thermoplastic matrices. During crystallisation of thermoplastic matrices volume shrink occurs, while the mechanical properties and especially media resistance are expected to improve. The focus of this work was thus on the change in mechanical properties and the change to geometry caused by an annealing cycle.