Effects of FDM parameters and annealing on the mechanical and tribological properties of PEEK

In this paper, the effects of FDM parameters (nozzle temperature, platform temperature, layer thickness, and printing speed) as well as annealing temperature on the mechanical properties of poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) were investigated through orthogonal experiments. And the tribological properties of PEEK were also studied before and after annealing. Results show that nozzle temperature and printing speed were main factors affecting the mechanical properties of PEEK, which was optimized to be 440 ℃ and 40 mm/s, respectively. The mechanical strength of PEEK was increased with increasing annealing temperature and reached the maximum at 300 ℃ with the sacrifice of elongation at break, and the ultimate tensile, flexural and compressive strength was increased by 36%, 54% and 21%, respectively. As for the tribo-properties, there appeared a minimum wear rate(1.37 × 10−6mm3/Nm) in 200 °C annealed PEEK when tested in parallel manner, combined influences of annealing and filament orientation were revealed, and appropriate annealing temperature was found to help enhance the formation of uniform and homogeneous transfer films on the counter steel surfaces.