TECAPEEK® Tube

TECAPEEK® is unfilled polyetheretherketone, a semi-crystalline high-performance thermoplastic supplied as rod, plate, tube and calendered sheet. It holds useful mechanical properties to a continuous 480°F, with short excursions to about 572°F, and melts at 633°F. Tensile strength is about 16,000 psi at yield with a tensile modulus near 650,000 psi and flexural strength around 26,000 psi, and creep resistance is high enough for loaded parts at temperature. Water absorption is only 0.03% in 24 hours, so machined parts stay dimensionally stable in wet and steam service. It is inherently flame retardant at UL94 V-0, resists most chemicals, and tolerates high-energy radiation.

PEEK goes where metal is too heavy or too conductive and other plastics quit: seal faces, back-up rings, bushings, valve seats, compressor plates and downhole components in oil and gas; wafer carriers, test sockets and handling parts in semiconductor; pump and manifold parts in chemical processing; brackets and connectors in aerospace; and sterilisable instrument and fixtures in medical work. Stock is RoHS compliant, and food-contact conformity to FDA and EU Regulation 10/2011 is available on qualifying grades. It machines well with sharp carbide tooling, and stress relieving before finishing pays off on tight-tolerance parts. It is attacked by concentrated sulphuric acid, and unpigmented stock darkens under prolonged UV.