PEEK: density, print temperature and when to choose it
PEEK (polyether ether ketone) is one of the most heat-resistant and strongest plastics available for FDM: it retains mechanical properties above 250°C, is chemically inert, and withstands sterilization. Printing requires industrial equipment — a 380–420°C nozzle and typically a heated enclosure — a standard desktop printer simply can't do it.
Key properties
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Density | ≈1.30 g/cm³ |
| Nozzle temperature | 380–420°C |
| Bed temperature | 120–160°C |
| Part cooling | off |
| Shrinkage | high without chamber temperature control |
| Enclosure required | yes, with active air heating to 100–150°C |
When to use it
- Aviation and medical parts that need biocompatibility and sterilization resistance.
- Components operating near hot engine assemblies or in chemically aggressive environments.
- Replacing metal where weight matters — PEEK holds load at high temperature better than almost any printable plastic.
- Insulators and connectors used under continuous heat.
When to pick something else
- No industrial printer with a 100°C+ chamber and 400°C nozzle — printing PEEK is physically out of reach on consumer equipment; consider PEKK or PPSU with slightly gentler requirements, or lower the bar to PC or PEI.
- Heat resistance is needed but not extreme — PPS or PEI (Ultem) print noticeably more easily while still resisting enough heat for many tasks.
- Budget is limited — a kilogram of PEEK costs many times more than engineering plastics like PC or PA6-GF; use those for a prototype instead.
Pros and cons
Pros: retains strength and stiffness above 250°C, excellent chemical resistance, biocompatible and autoclavable, very high fatigue strength.
Cons: requires an industrial printer with a 400°C+ nozzle and hot chamber — unavailable on consumer equipment; extremely high filament price; difficult printing with a high defect risk without precise temperature control; slow cooling and a long print cycle.
Calculate your price in a minute
Free calculator: part weight, print time, material price — no sign-up needed.
App Store
Google Play
RuStoreHow it affects your print cost
PEEK is, first and foremost, an equipment and energy cost: printing needs an industrial-class printer with a long chamber warm-up to 100–150°C, which alone eats up tens of minutes and kilowatts before the part even starts printing. The filament itself costs an order of magnitude more than PLA or PETG, and any defect — warping, layer delamination from a temperature gradient — is expensive precisely because of the material cost. The final part cost for PEEK is almost always an order of magnitude higher than for engineering plastics like PC or nylon.