Melt-processable poly(tetrafluoroethylene)—compounding, fillers and dyes

Recently, a window of molar mass has been identified where poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) homopolymer can be processed from the melt, but at the same time has good mechanical properties in the solid state, so called HD-PTFE®. This research evaluates the use of conventional melt-compounding with a co-rotating twin-screw to introduce a variety of fillers in this material. It was found that melt-compounding is indeed an efficient way to achieve a filler distribution of excellent homogeneity in HD-PTFE®.