Polyetheretherketone, or PEEK, is a widely used polymer material. It is also widely used in medical non-metal implants because of its good biocompatibility, dimensional stability, and elastic modulus between cortical bone and cancellous bone. For example, temporary abutments, healing caps, and bite rods in human bones, spinal implants, trauma repair, and oral medicine. The reason why PEEK materials can be widely used in the biomedical field is inseparable from the surface treatment process of plasma cleaning machines. Next, let’s discuss with you the application of plasma cleaning machines in the processing of biomedical PEEK materials.

1 Necessity of plasma treatment of biomedical PEEK materials

Due to the low surface energy and hydrophobic properties of PEEK materials, after combining with composite resins, its interfacial bonding force is very low, which affects the bonding properties of the material. Therefore, it is usually necessary to adopt a certain treatment process to improve the surface properties of PEEK. Treatment with concentrated sulfuric acid and silicon coating can effectively enhance the bonding strength between PEEK materials and resin adhesives, but this type of treatment is not suitable for clinical use. Using a plasma cleaner to treat PEEK materials can not only effectively improve the bonding properties, but also better meet the application requirements of medical clinical use.

2 Erosion and coarsening of PEEK materials by plasma cleaning machine

When using plasma cleaning machine to treat PEEK materials, the particles in the plasma will collide with the PEEK materials, causing sputtering erosion, and the chemically active substances in the plasma will also chemically erode the surface of the PEEK materials.

During the sputtering erosion process, due to different erosion rates, fine concave and convex surfaces will be produced on the surface of the PEEK material, and the sputtered substances will be excited in the plasma and decomposed into gaseous components, and diffuse back to the surface of the material. Therefore, under the simultaneous action of erosion and repolymerization, a large number of protrusions will be formed on the surface of the PEEK material, achieving surface coarsening, increasing the contact area of bonding, improving bonding performance, improving product quality, and ensuring safety and reliability in medical clinical use.

3 Plasma cleaning machine improves the hydrophilicity and biocompatibility of PEEK materials

PEEK materials are chemically inactive and have poor surface hydrophilicity. Using a plasma cleaning machine to treat them can cause a variety of physical and chemical changes on the material surface. In addition to the erosion effect, it can also form a dense association layer on the material surface and introduce polar groups on the material surface to improve the hydrophilicity and biocompatibility of PEEK materials.

In summary, using a plasma cleaning machine to treat PEEK and its composites is an effective way to improve the bonding properties of the material. In addition, due to the differences in the materials themselves, their hardness also varies, and the etching effect and roughness that can be achieved by the plasma cleaning machine on the surface treatment of PEEK materials will also be different. Therefore, if you want to obtain the ideal adhesion and hydrophilicity effects, you need to adjust the processing parameters of the plasma cleaning machine.