PEEK, or polyether ether ketone is a high-performance engineering thermoplastic that belongs to the PEEK material family.
The semi-crystalline material is used for a wide range of industrial parts and components because of its exceptional strength, wear resistance, and abrasion resistance and its ability to keep its characteristics even at high temperatures. You can get the high quality material form PEEK plastic manufacturer.
PEEK grades have similar chemical and water resistance to PPS. On the other hand, PEEK plastic has a melting point of 343°C, allowing it to function at greater temperatures. It may be used constantly at temperatures up to 250°C, as well as in hot water or steam, with no permanent loss of physical properties.
For CNC machining, the high-performance PEEK plastic is available in granular, filament, and bar/rod forms. We can divide PEEK machining into two categories: industrial-grade and medical-grade.
Applications:
PEEK is a material with a surprisingly wide range of uses, and some benefit from CNC machining over conventional production processes. Industrial-grade PEEK plastic is utilized in aerospace, automotive, chemical, electronics, and energy industries, whereas medical-grade PEEK plastic gets used in healthcare and dentistry.
Tips for Peek Plastic Machining
PEEK is a machinable thermoplastic, and it requires some essential precautions before, during, and after the machining process to achieve an assured and high-quality final product.
Annealing is a procedure on PEEK rods to alleviate stress and minimize the risks of strains and surface fractures in the PEEK material during machining. Annealed PEEK is also less prone to deformation. Depending on the time necessary for machining, there are multiple annealing processes.
Often PEEK is delivered to businesses in the form of PEEK rods ranging in length from 6mm to 150mm in diameter. It is critical to relieve tension before machining by using an annealing process since this minimises the possibility of surface fractures and interior strains from the heat generated. Annealing also has the advantage of increasing crystallinity and allowing you to restrict dimensional changes.
Suppose your PEEK sheets will be subjected to extended periods of machining. In that case, to ensure the capacity to retain critically tight tolerances and flatness, different intermediate annealing processes may be undergone.
Cutting tools: In most cases, silicon carbide cutting tools may be used by PEEK plastic manufacturers. Diamond tools should be used if the PEEK is reinforced with carbon fibre or if very tight tolerances are required. Contamination can also be prevented if the cutting instruments are not also used on metals.
Wet or Dry: PEEK does not disperse heat, so it is cooled during PEEK machining to avoid deformation or fracture. Unless, for example, medical components undergo the process and are machined, the PEEK material or the PEEK tube requires cooling by compressed air, standard liquid coolant gets utilised. This process is because liquid coolant might have an impact on PEEK’s biocompatibility.
Drilling: Because PEEK has a lesser elongation than other polymers, deep hole drilling might fracture.
Contamination Avoidance: Contamination should be avoided when machining polymer components for technically demanding sectors such as aerospace and medical, as contamination is a significant problem.
AIP Precision Machining develops, heat-treats, and manufactures plastics exclusively to assure the most effective degree of cleanliness down to the sub-molecular level, with any sub-manufactured metals handled outside our facility.
