PEEK 3D Printing
Problem statement
Clients of Arnold Magnetic Technologies are in need of PEEK 3D printed parts for their high durability and ductility; the PEEK parts will be used for insulating stator coils in aerospace electric motors. Unfortunately, PEEK is unable to be printed by Prusa MK3S+ printers, which make up most of Arnold’s printer inventory, because of its high melting temperature of about 350C [1]. The high melting temperature of PEEK requires a heated environment to prevent warpage while printing, and the required temperature for the environment is higher than the operating temperature for some Prusa MK3S+ components. While there are PEEK 3D printers available on the market, Arnold does not have enough PEEK part request volume to justify buying a printer specifically for PEEK, which can cost well over $10,000. Arnold competitors who have PEEK 3D printers currently have a market advantage, so Arnold’s engineers will need a high quality modified printer to provide PEEK products with comparable or better performance than these competitors. For this project, we intend to build an enclosure to provide a heated environment to achieve high-quality PEEK prints while keeping electronics and other sensitive components cool enough to perform. We will also modify necessary components of a Prusa MK3S+ printer to function at the required temperatures for printing PEEK. The end result will allow Arnold to fulfill PEEK 3D printing requests and stay within space constraints as well as providing a blueprint to modify Prusa MK3S+ printers while staying within a budget of $5,000. [1] P. J. Rae, E. N. Brown, and E. B. Orler, “The mechanical properties of poly(ether-ether-ketone) (PEEK) with emphasis on the large compressive strain response,” Polymer, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 598–615, Dec. 2006. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032386106012742?casa_token=p3Oc1t884IkAAAAA:FqNEI_-wthn1qSGs_oFa7egYBf1AWi2fHPBOvi9JP2dvdciFAXPv9eVoeM1zO7OchN-5zv-Vg1s
Team members
Claudia Michalski – facilitator
Masen Hartman – communicator
Alec Schneider – accountant
Taisir Khan – admin
Client
Brian Fehring
Arnold Magnetic Technologies