Design and Manufacturing of Complex Geometry PEEK Component through Fused Filament Fabrication

Complex geometry components fabricated through Fused Filament Fabrication in polyether ether ketone exhibit very interesting performances, but they are very difficult to predict. Non-standard mechanical tests allow for estimating a global structural response and do not provide local information about the failure evolution. This work investigates the integration of a Digital Image Processing method with non-standard mechanical test to improve the knowledge of the component performance through the tracking and the analysis of local failures. This way, a targeted redesign of the component can be provided: in this work the component was modified at manufacturing stage by changing the Fused Filament Fabrication infill, and at optimization stage by employing a stress line approach for locally densifying the interior.