What’s PEEK?
PEEK is a semi-crystalline thermoplastic polymer that guarantees extreme performances, combining great mechanical properties with an excellent thermal and chemical resistance. One of the challenges of Automotive and Motorsport sectors is the reduction of weights with lighter parts, keeping high performance standards of the produced components.
Uses and advantages of PEEK
Using super polymers like PEEK instead of light alloys, like for example magnesium and aluminium, guarantees high performance with a further reduction of weight. We’ve tried to replace the motor cover made in magnesium with another cover realized in PEEK through FFF 3D printing technology.
When the lightness is a relevant element, the magnesium alloys - with a density of 1,74 g/cm^3 – result an alternative to the aluminium alloys (density: 2,7 g/cm^3).
The magnesium, however, presents several disadvantages compared to the use of PEEK, like:
- More weight (PEEK has a density of 1,3 g/cm^3)
- Low thermo-chemical resistance to water
- Higher production time and costs
The weight of a magnesium part is about 100g more than the finished part in PEEK. The chemical and thermal resistance of PEEK by Roboze makes this material ideal for the realization of components that work in particularly severe conditions.
PEEK resistance and production time
The corrosion phenomenon is a mechanism of electro-chemical degradation, typical of metals, that results in the loss and detachment of material from the surface. In particularly severe working environments, where the material is in contact with specific chemical substances, it is necessary to make treatments on metals to protect the surface from the corrosion phenomena. Compared to metals, PEEK and other super polymers are not affected by corrosion mechanisms, making it ideal to replace the motor cover in magnesium.
Even the production time allows to highlight great advantages in using 3D printed PEEK instead of light alloys like magnesium. Regarding magnesium, or other light alloys, the manufacturing process is longer: the design of the finished part first, then the print and the casting, and finally the mechanical processing and protection treatments. The motor cover realized in PEEK with Roboze FFF 3D printing technology has bee in only 5 hours, with an evident saving of production time and costs.
Roboze technology, with its high performance polymers like PEEK, allows to combine the advantages of Metal Replacement with the advantages of additive technology.
Do you need further information about Metal Replacement and PEEK?
Email us at info@roboze.com
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