Rheological behavior of neat and carbon fiber‐reinforced poly(ether ketone ketone) for extrusion deposition additive manufacturing

Abstract

To develop new materials for extrusion additive manufacturing (AM) systems, a fundamental understanding of rheological properties is essential to correlate the effect of processing on material structure and its properties. In this work, the rheological properties of five different grades of neat and carbon fiber (CF)‐reinforced poly(ether ketone ketone) are reported. Rheological properties are essential to understand the effect of reinforcing fibers and AM process parameters such as time, temperature, environment, and shear rate on flow behavior during processing. Small‐amplitude oscillatory shear tests and steady shear tests indicated neat grades to exhibit less increase in viscosity over time when processed in air than the CF‐filled grades. The filled grades showed greater shear thinning and lower sensitivity to temperature. Overall, this rheological analysis provides a broad framework for determining appropriate processing conditions for extrusion deposition AM of such high‐temperature polymer systems.