Determining Impact Strength of Extrusion-Based 3D-Printed PEEK Using Multi-criteria Decision-Making (MCDM)

FDM-fused deposition modeling is an extrusion-based 3D printing technique, has been extensively researched and proven to be a fundamental tool with diverse applications in engineering fields for creating 3D objects. The popularity of thermoplastic materials like PLA, ABS, PETG, Nylon, and TPU in FDM 3D printing is due to their properties and affordability. However, the introduction of new high-grade polymers (HGPs) creates compatibility challenges with existing machines and processes, limiting their full-scale adoption. The adoption of new materials in 3D printing can necessitate modifications to hardware, software, and settings, which can be costly and time-consuming. Ensuring quality control and consistency becomes challenging as each material requires unique parameters and processing conditions, resulting in variability and difficulties in achieving consistent part quality. Optimizing FDM parameters for high-grade polymers (HGPs) like PEEK is challenging due to their unique properties. The high thermal gradient and heat distribution during printing can result in residual stresses and deformations, impacting the quality and mechanical properties such as tensile, compressive, and impact strength. There is a limited research focus on investigating the impact resistance or strength of materials compared to tensile and compressive properties, resulting in fewer studies available on this aspect of mechanical properties. Therefore, this article utilized a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method to determine the best combination of process parameters for 3D printing PEEK and resulting in improved impact strength − 230.4 kJ/m2 while considering factors such as build orientation—XZ, print density—100%, and chamber temperature—50 °C, which resulted in a print time of 98 min and 3.64 g of material usage.