5 Materials to Consider for Your Next Medical Device: PEEK

Polyether Ether Ketone (PEEK)

This organic polymer thermoplastic was originally used for gas chromatography.
 

Benefits: Peek is extremely inert and very hard. It can be molded or extruded and can withstand high temperatures.
 

Drawbacks: Very high temperatures are required to process PEEK—“two times as high as other thermoplastics,” Czuba says. “If you don’t have equipment specially designed for it, you’ll burn up your equipment.”

PEEK is also extremely expensive and can sell for more than $1000 per pound.

Applications: Spinal implants, bone screws and pins, and other orthopedic implants.