Investigations on the influence of printing parameters during processing of biocompatible polymer in Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM)

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ABSTRACT

Additive manufacturing has got wide applications in different industries. Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) is one of the most widely used additive manufacturing processes in which the part is manufactured by depositing the material layer-by-layer. Poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) is a biocompatible thermoplastic with excellent mechanical properties and it can potentially replace the metal or ceramic parts being used in biomedical and aerospace industries. FDM with its ability to form parts with complex structures offers advantages for manufacturing PEEK parts compared to other processing techniques. However, the higher melting temperature of PEEK makes its processing difficult through FDM. In the present work, FDM is utilised to perform the printing of PEEK. The quality of the printed parts in form of surface finish and mechanical properties mainly depends on the temperature and the viscosity of the molten material. Hence, the melting behaviour of polymer in terms of the temperature, viscosity, and pressure distribution in the nozzle is simulated through finite element analysis (FEA). Also, experimental investigations have been carried out to analyse the effect of various printing parameters such as printing temperature, printing speed, and printing layer thickness, on surface quality and mechanical properties of printed PEEK parts.

KEYWORDS:

• Additive manufacturing
• fused deposition modelling
• poly-ether-ether-ketone
• finite element analysis
• surface roughness
• tensile strength

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the resources provided by Nirma University to carry out the research work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).