Quantitative nanoscale measurements of the thermomechanical properties of poly‐ether‐ether‐ketone ( PEEK )

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Understanding the internal structure and organization of semicrystalline polymers, especially at the nanoscale, has many challenges for researchers to date. In this article, we demonstrate a quantitative method for investigating the local viscoelastic properties (i.e., storage and loss moduli, as well as loss tangent) of semicrystalline polyether‐ether ketone (PEEK) through the combination of contact resonance atomic force microscopy (CR‐AFM) and in situ local heating with a thermal probe. Furthermore, the local viscoelastic properties of the crystalline and amorphous phases were decoupled by performing thermal CR‐AFM array mapping near the glass transition temperature of PEEK (Tg, 143 °C). A distinct bimodal distribution of tip‐sample interaction was observed for PEEK near its Tg, providing a means to estimate the Tg and the degree of crystallinity of PEEK.