On the thermal processing and mechanical properties of 3D-printed polyether ether ketone
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Research Letter
On the thermal processing and mechanical properties of 3D-printed polyether ether ketone Russell Wang , Department of Comprehensive Care, Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA Kang-jie Cheng, Key Laboratory of E&M, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province 310014, China Rigoberto C. Advincula, and Qiyi Chen, Department of Macromolecular Sciences & Engineering, Case Western Reserve University School of Engineering, Cleveland, OH, USA Address all correspondence to Russell Wang at [email protected] (Received 12 April 2019; accepted 14 June 2019)
Abstract Because of its unique mechanical, chemical, and biological properties, 3D-printed polyether ether ketone (PEEK) has great potential as customized bone replacement and other metal alloy implant replacement. PEEK samples were printed using fused deposition modeling (FDM) and evaluated in terms of their dimensional accuracy, crystallinity, and mechanical properties. Crystallinity and mechanical properties increased with elevated chamber temperature and post-printing annealing. Variations of material properties from three printers are evident. Many factors affect the quality of 3D-printed PEEK. Future FDA regulations for 3D-printed products are needed for this highly customizable manufacturing process to ensure safety and effectiveness for biomedical applications.
Introduction The desirable mechanical, chemical, physical, and biological properties of polyether ether ketone (PEEK) have led to the use of pre-formed PEEK spine cages as regular adjuvants in spine surgery.[1–4] Recent 3D printing technologies with affordable printers have emerged that are able to fabricate complex shapes and forms as scaffolds for tissue engineering.[5–7] A combination of biomaterials and 3D printing have captivated interest in both research and clinical communities for personalized regenerative medicine. PEEK can be printed using either fused deposition modeling (FDM) or selective laser sintering (SLS) methods.[8] In the FDM process, PEEK filament can be continuously fed into a computer numerical control-movement nozzle head and heated to a semiliquid state, then extruded onto a heated building platform. The computer-controlled nozzle can deposit a small volume of molten PEEK on a previous layer along the cross-section contour and the filling trajectory. At the same time, the extruded material rapidly solidifies (quenches) and adheres to the surrounding material to form the required complex PEEK parts. Given this unique mechanism of FDM, the nature of FDM processing manifests anisotropic characteristics of the printed materials. PEEK is a high performance, semi-crystalline polymer, which has a number of similar mechanical properties to bone tissue. It has high melting and glass transition temperatures (Tm = 340 °C, Tg = 143 °C),[9] Although PEEK crystalline structure and its formation have been studied in the bulk,[10,11] there is still a need for elucidation of morphology, processing, and
property characterizations of
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