Advanced PAEK for AM
PEEK polymer pioneer Victrex is preparing newly developed materials for additive manufacturing (AM). The first of these is a high strength material for laser sintering (LS) which attains lower refresh rates, resulting in improved recycling for unsintered powder. The second is a filament with better Z-strength than existing polyaryletherketone (PAEK) materials and better printability for filament fusion (FF).

Jakob Sigurdsson, Victrex CEO, commented: “These next-generation VICTREX PAEK materials for additive manufacturing mark a decisive step forward, having potential to transform multiple applications, including aerospace and medical. The exciting progress is based on continued intense R&D at Victrex and excellent collaboration within the Victrex led consortium of companies and institutions pursuing innovation in additive manufacturing. Through this consortium we’re already seeing demonstrator parts that show how AM processes, coupled with high-performance materials, transform thinking to create truly innovative parts based on increased design possibilities.”

Advantages of additive manufacturing can be deployed to reduce costs, shorten time to market, and enable the production of parts too complex to be manufactured using traditional methods. The PAEK incumbent materials on the market today, although used in some AM applications, were designed for conventional manufacturing methods, such as machining and injection molding. Because of this, they have some features that aren’t optimal for additive manufacturing processes.

The new polymer grades developed by Victrex have shown encouragingly low refresh rates (improves recycle for unsintered powder) with similar mechanical properties in LS, and in FF good mechanical properties and printability.

For more information, contact Victrex USA, Inc., 300 Conshohocken State Road, Ste. 120, West Conshohocken, PA 19428, 484-342-6001, Fax: 484-342-6002, Web: www.victrex.com.