Session: 02-01-03: 7th Annual Conference-Wide Symposium on Additive Manufacturing: Polymers I

Paper Number: 95419

95419 - Investigation of the Mechanical Properties of High-Temperature Polymer (Polyether Ether Ketone-PEEK) With Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing 

High-temperature polymers are widely used in engineering applications for challenging environments, including automotive, aerospace, chemical, and biomedical industries. Properties of the high-temperature polymers include chemical resistance, thermal stability, and mechanical strength comparable with metal, thus considered high-performance polymers. Among high-temperature polymers, polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) has high mechanical performance and biocompatibility and holds great potential for spinal implants, trauma fixation, and components replacement in the automobile and aerospace industries. Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, shows great promise in the manufacturing industry for tooling and biomedical fields for spinal implants and trauma fixation for low-cost and the ability to print complex geometry. In addition, the low outgassing properties of PEEK made it suitable for space-related applications. The thermo-mechanical properties of material extrusion 3D printed high-temperature polymers depend on several important parameters, including raster angle, build orientation, printing speed, layer thickness, extrusion temperature, and filling ratio. In this research, mechanical properties of fused filament fabrication 3D printed tensile samples of PEEK (ASTM D638 Type IV) were investigated with optimized printing parameters mentioned above, including pre-processing of the filament and post-processing of the printed parts. The PEEK filament was preheated inside a convection oven at 155 °C for 3 hours before printing. During printing, the extrusion temperature was set to 400 °C, the bed temperature was 160 °C, and the chamber ambient temperature was 90 °C. The printing and extrusion rates were set to 120 mm/sec and 30 mm/sec. The printed parts were annealed at 150 °C for 1 hour, followed by 200 °C for 2 hours, 150 °C for 30 minutes, and later the samples were slowly reached room temperature. Mechanical characterization was performed in sample groups with raster angle variation (+45°/-45°, 0°, 90°) with 100% infill. A significant amount of strength (ultimate tensile stress, i.e., UTS and modulus) variations were found in the sample groups. A strong correlation was found between the raster angle strength property. Maximum UTS was found in +45/-45 RA with an average UTS of  96 MPa, while the 90° RA and 0° RA specimens showed a relatively low strength due to the interlaminar failure in the layers prior to the bulk of the layer. Failure of the specimen happened in each lamina while performing the tensile testing. The fractured surface of the tensile specimen showed the laminated failure, and all the samples were shown a similar failure pattern. These results will help better understand the correlation of the printing parameters and strength property of PEEK material and develop methods of pre and post-processing operations for 3D printing with improved mechanical properties.

Presenting Author: Kazi Md Masum Billah University of Houston - Clear Lake

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Billah received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University<br/>of Texas at El Paso in 2017 and 2021, respectively. In 2013, he received his B.Sc. in Mechanical<br/>Engineering from the Khulna University of Engineering &amp;amp; Technology, Bangladesh.<br/><br/>Dr. Billah&#39;s teaching and research interests are encompassed in the area of advanced<br/>manufacturing technologies—more specifically, additive manufacturing/3D printing. He has<br/>experience as an engineering educator and advanced manufacturing researcher in several<br/>academic and research institutions, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory, W. M. Keck<br/>Center for 3D Innovation, University of Texas at El Paso, and the World University of Bangladesh.

Authors:

Md Rashedul Sarker UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS
Joseph Glassmeyer University of Indianapolis
Alexander Ruble University of Indianapolis
Youssef K Hamidi University of Houston - Clear Lake
Kazi Md Masum Billah University of Houston - Clear Lake