Nanolayer Coextrusion of Amorphous and Semi-Crystalline Polymers for Enhanced Thermal and Mechanical Properties

Research from Peak Nano, published in the Journal of Plastic Film & Sheeting by Dr. Zahidul Wahab, Dr. Kevin Hughes, Jacob Landry, and Dr. Michael Ponting, addresses a long-standing challenge in polymer film development: maintaining mechanical strength at elevated service temperatures without additives, chemical modification, or costly new polymer chemistries. Using nanolayer coextrusion, the team paired PET and PPS with high-Tg cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) support layers to produce films that maintain useful mechanical performance well above the limits of conventional blends.

What's inside:

• The materials challenge behind high-temperature polymer film development, and why blending common commercial polymers falls short of application requirements
• The layer-multiplying coextrusion methodology used to produce nanolayered PET/COC and PPS/COC films with layer thicknesses from 40 to 200 nm
• Storage modulus, thermal, and mechanical characterization of the nanolayered films compared to conventional blend films of identical composition
• Implications for accelerating industrial adoption of high-performance polymer films across power electronics, medical packaging, and other demanding applications

The version available for download is the accepted manuscript. The final version of record is published in the Sage Journal of Plastic Film & Sheeting.

Download the accepted manuscript to learn more.