Preliminary test on the effect of direct annealing on additive manufactured PEEK bending properties

Engineering polymers are widely used in aerospace, automotive, aviation, and biomedical industries. They can be processed with different technologies and Additive Manufacturing. Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is a semi-crystalline polymer that exhibits excellent mechanical properties and resistance to high temperatures. Being a semi-crystalline polymer, heat treatments can be used to improve its properties. They can be conducted in the oven or through a direct annealing system included in the Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) machine. This study aims to provide more information on the correlation between annealing and the flexural properties of PEEK specimens made by FFF technology. A direct annealing process, performed during the printing, was carried out and compared with a traditional oven annealing with similar duration. The flexural properties were analyzed as a function of the annealing type and temperature.