INVESTIGATION OF THE DIMENSIONAL ACCURACY OF ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED HIGH-TEMPERATURE MATERIAL (PEEK)

Additive Manufacturing (AM) of spare parts is a compelling production route with various benefits to the industry in terms of cost, lead time, and quality. Multiple research studies have highlighted the positive impact of high-performance manufacturing polymers such as Polyether Ether Ketone (PEEK) using Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) technology in industrial and medical applications. With regards to the dimensional accuracy of the end products after 3D printing and associated thermal post-processing, there is a need for a systematic approach to quantitative evaluation. In this research study, we proposed a new benchmarked design of a test part along with a design of an experiment to evaluate the dimensional accuracy of PEEK parts in spare parts applications. The results revealed a fair dimensional accuracy with a deviation less than 1.6% of the original design. Furthermore, we found no significant effect of annealing on the dimensional accuracy of the PEEK 3D printed parts.