High Modulus, Strut-like poly(ether ether ketone) Aerogels Produced from a Benign Solvent.

Poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) was found to form gels in the benign solvent 1,3-diphenylacetone (DPA). Gelation of PEEK in DPA was found to form an interconnected, strut-like morphology composed of polymer axialites. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a strut-like morphology for PEEK aerogels.

Additive Manufacturing of Poly(phenylene Sulfide) Aerogels via Simultaneous Material Extrusion and Thermally Induced Phase Separation.

Additive manufacturing (AM) of aerogels increases the achievable geometric complexity, and affords fabrication of hierarchically porous structures. In this work, a custom heated material extrusion (MEX) device prints aerogels of poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS), an engineering thermoplastic, via in situ thermally induced phase separation (TIPS). First, pre-prepared solid gel inks are dissolved at high temperatures in the heated extruder barrel to form a homogeneous polymer solution.