Mechanical and microstructural investigation of three-dimensionally printed PEEK polymer

Three-dimensional polymer printing is becoming more popular due to its effectiveness in creating components of any geometric design. Polymer materials can be used at low temperatures but are weaker than other functional materials. Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is a thermoplastic with outstanding mechanical properties that can tolerate high temperatures. A high-temperature fused deposition modeling machine manufactured PEEK specimens in this experiment to find the ideal printing parameters S1, S2, S3, and S4 were made using varying printing speeds and layer thicknesses. The polymer sample's exterior surface was analyzed using FESEM, while physical characterization was conducted through X-ray diffraction analysis and water contact angle measurement. The strength of each sample in the relevant variables was determined using mechanical testing, such as tensile and compression tests. It was found that specimen S3 having a layer thickness of 0.15 mm and printing speed of 20 mm/s showed a high tensile and compressive strength value of about 78 and 144 MPa respectively than the other three samples. In addition, the fractured tensile samples were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy to discover the factors that contributed to the disparity in the values of their strengths. Graphical abstract