Zhen Honglei, Zhao Bin, Quan Long, Fu Junyu
College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China.
Polymers (Basel). 2023 May 6;15(9):2209. doi: 10.3390/polym15092209.
Fused deposition modeling (FDM) processed Poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) materials are widely used in aerospace, automobile, biomedical, and electronics industries and other industries due to their excellent mechanical properties, thermal properties, chemical resistance, wear resistance, and biocompatibility, etc. However, the manufacture of PEEK materials and parts utilizing the FDM process faces the challenge of fine-tuning a list of process parameters and heat treatment conditions to reach the best-suiting mechanical properties and microstructures. It is non-trivial to make the selection only according to theoretical analysis while counting on a vast number of experiments is the general situation. Therefore, in this paper, the extrusion rate, filling angle, and printing orientation are investigated to adjust the mechanical properties of 3D-printed PEEK parts; then, a variety of heat treatment conditions were applied to tune the crystallinity and strength. The results show that the best mechanical performance is achieved at 1.0 times the extrusion rate, varied angle cross-fillings with ±10° intervals, and vertical printing. Horizontal printing performs better with reduced warpage. Additionally, both crystallinity and mechanical properties are significantly improved after heat treatment, and the best state is achieved after holding at 300 °C for 2 h. The resulting tensile strength is close to 80% of the strength of injection-molded PEEK parts.
熔融沉积成型（FDM）工艺加工的聚醚醚酮（PEEK）材料，因其优异的机械性能、热性能、耐化学性、耐磨性和生物相容性等，在航空航天、汽车、生物医学和电子等行业得到广泛应用。然而，利用FDM工艺制造PEEK材料及零件面临着微调一系列工艺参数和热处理条件以达到最佳机械性能和微观结构的挑战。仅依据理论分析进行选择并非易事，依靠大量实验才是普遍情况。因此，本文研究了挤出速率、填充角度和打印方向对3D打印PEEK零件机械性能的影响；随后，采用多种热处理条件来调整结晶度和强度。结果表明，在挤出速率为1.0倍、填充角度以±10°间隔变化的交叉填充以及垂直打印时可获得最佳机械性能。水平打印在减少翘曲方面表现更佳。此外，热处理后结晶度和机械性能均显著提高，在300℃保温2 h后达到最佳状态。所得拉伸强度接近注塑成型PEEK零件强度的80%。
