What is PEEK?
Throughout the plastics industry, PEEK is widely viewed as a leading high-performance polymer (HPP) for High-Pressure High-Temp (HPHT) environments.
Key Properties:
High Heat Resistant
Tests have shown that VICTREX™ PEEK polymer has a continuous use temperature of 260°C (500°F). This can make it suitable for use in a wide range of thermally aggressive environments, such as those found in the process industries, and in the oil and gas sector. PEEK is able to tolerate friction and resist wear in dynamic applications like seal rings and backups.
Chemically Resistant
PEEK is able to resist the damage that can be inflicted in chemically aggressive operational environments, such as downhole applications in the oil & gas industry, in gears in machinery applications. It can resist jet fuel, hydraulic fluids, de-icers and insecticides used in the aerospace industry. This holds true over wide ranges of pressure, temperature and time.
Mechanically Durable
PEEK demonstrates excellent strength and stiffness over a wide temperature range. PEEK has both high creep and fatigue resistance thanks to its semi-crystalline structure and has been shown to be more durable than many other polymers and some metals over a long and useful lifetime.”Creep” refers to a material becoming permanently deformed over an extended period of time when under constant applied stress. “Fatigue” refers to the brittle failure of a material under a repeated cyclic loading.
Difficult To Ignite Or Burn
PEEK has excellent flammability performance. It resists combustion up to almost 600°C. When it can be made to burn at very high temperatures, it will not support combustion and it emits little smoke. This is one reason why PEEK is widely used in commercial aircraft.