Applications of 3D-Printed PEEK via Fused Filament Fabrication: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is an organic polymer that has excellent mechanical, chemical properties and can be additively manufactured (3D-printed) with ease. The use of 3D-printed PEEK has been growing in many fields. This article systematically reviews the current status of 3D-printed PEEK that has been used in various areas, including medical, chemical, aerospace, and electronics. A search of the use of 3D-printed PEEK articles published until September 2021 in various fields was performed using various databases. After reviewing the articles, and those which matched the inclusion criteria set for this systematic review, we found that the printing of PEEK is mainly performed by fused filament fabrication (FFF) or fused deposition modeling (FDM) printers. Based on the results of this systematic review, it was concluded that PEEK is a versatile material, and 3D-printed PEEK is finding applications in numerous industries. However, most of the applications are still in the research phase. Still, given how the research on PEEK is progressing and its additive manufacturing, it will soon be commercialized for many applications in numerous industries.

Keywords: 3D printing; PEEK; additive manufacturing; aerospace; chemical; electrical; medical; polymer.

Figure 1

Flow diagram of the different stages of the systematic review [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62].

Figure 2

Pictures showing pre-operative diagnosis, virtual surgery and creation of patient-specific implants using CAD/CAM software [26]. Reproduced with permission from Ji-hyeon Oh, Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery published by Springer Nature, 2018.

Figure 3

Illustrations of the FFF PEEK 3D printing issues in the cranial implants regarding different orientations. (a) Horizontally printed cranial implant showing the raft detachment/warping effect (in situ); (b) horizontally printed cranial implant displaying a rough internal surface; (c) vertical printed cranial implant exhibiting different levels of crystallinity (in situ); (d) 3D-printed skull biomodel with the vertically printed implant after support structure removal; and (e) annealed vertically printed cranial implant displaying no discolorations [23]. Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution License permission from an open access Journal of Clinical Medicine published in 2020.

Figure 4

SEM photographs of extruded and drawn PEEK yarns at different magnifications. The photographs showed that the filament is cylindrical in shape with uniform diameter, has a smooth surface, and is transparent with no irregular striations on its surface [3]. Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution License from an open-access Journal of Clinical Medicine published in 2020.

Figure 5

Direct Current (DC) volume electrical conductivity of PEEK/MWCNT/GnP nanocomposites as a function of GnP (1 to 6 wt%) content (at CNT contents of 3 and 4 wt %) [22]. Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution License from the Journal of Applied Polymer Science published in 2009.