Short-carbon-fiber (SCF)–reinforced poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) is a promising polymer composite material with good biocompatibility, a high strength-to-weight ratio, and low friction properties. In artificial-bone fabrication and other applications with more flexible fabrication demands, fused-deposition modeling (FDM) technology enables the rapid and low-cost fabrication of SCF/PEEK parts with sophisticated structures. Owing to the high viscosity of melting PEEK composites, great challenges, associated with the poor internal interface, need to be overcome before enhanced mechanical properties can be obtained. In this study, key processing parameters and various SCF amounts were studied to investigate their effects on the mechanical properties of PEEK composites. It was revealed that the existence of voids and gaps between the SCF and PEEK led to a decrease in the strength of the composite systems. The FDM processing parameters were tuned to eliminate these defects in the PEEK composites. The tensile strength of the 2% SCF/PEEK sample reached 96.4 MPa, which is comparable to that of PEEK parts prepared by injection molding. Meanwhile, its elastic modulus reached 2.6 GPa, which is 169% higher than that of the bare PEEK sample.

短碳纤维（SCF）增强的聚醚醚酮（PEEK）是一种有前途的聚合物复合材料，具有良好的生物相容性，高的重量比和低的摩擦性能。在人造骨制造和其他对制造要求更加灵活的应用中，熔融沉积建模（FDM）技术可以快速，低成本地制造具有复杂结构的SCF / PEEK零件。由于熔融PEEK复合材料的高粘度，在获得增强的机械性能之前，必须克服与不良的内部界面有关的巨大挑战。在这项研究中，研究了关键加工参数和各种SCF量，以研究它们对PEEK复合材料力学性能的影响。结果表明，SCF和PEEK之间存在空隙和缝隙，导致复合体系强度下降。调整了FDM加工参数，以消除PEEK复合材料中的这些缺陷。2％SCF / PEEK样品的拉伸强度达到96.4 MPa，与通过注塑成型制备的PEEK零件的拉伸强度相当。同时，其弹性模量达到2.6 GPa，比裸PEEK样品高169％。