Search results

Many brand manufacturers are facing increasing competition from competitors entering the market with extremely aggressive prices. To face this new competition the branded manufacturers traditionally lower their own prices or do not react to such attacks at all. Both strategies are not optimal. A third alternative is the two‐product strategy which can be successful in many cases. This strategy foresees a second, lower positioned product to be added to the existing higher positioned brand product, which is targeted directly against the low‐priced competitors. The most important aspect for such a strategy is that the two products are differentiated strongly enough to minimize cannibalization. This can be achieved by differentiating brand, quality, price and/or distribution. A two‐product strategy has proven successful in many countries and markets, but can also help in a less competitive environment by opening new distribution channels or offering more customized products for specific market segments.

The potential implications of the three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology are growing enormously in the various health-care sectors, including surgical planning, manufacturing of patient-specific implants and developing anatomical models. Although a wide range of thermoplastic polymers are available as 3DP feedstock, yet obtaining biocompatible and structurally integrated biomedical devices is still challenging owing to various technical issues.

Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is an organic and biocompatible compound material that is recently being used to fabricate complex design geometries and patient-specific implants through 3DP. However, the thermal and rheological features of PEEK make it difficult to process through the 3DP technologies, for instance, fused filament fabrication. The present review paper presents a state-of-the-art literature review of the 3DP of PEEK for potential biomedical applications. In particular, a special emphasis has been given on the existing technical hurdles and possible technological and processing solutions for improving the printability of PEEK.

The reviewed literature highlighted that there exist numerous scientific and technical means which can be adopted for improving the quality features of the 3D-printed PEEK-based biomedical structures. The discussed technological innovations will help the 3DP system to enhance the layer adhesion strength, structural stability, as well as enable the printing of high-performance thermoplastics.

The content of the present manuscript will motivate young scholars and senior scientists to work in exploring high-performance thermoplastics for 3DP applications.