PTFE VS PEEK: What's The Difference and Which is Better

When it comes to manufacturing ball valves, bearings, and other electrical equipment components, most frequently mix up PTFE with PEEK. Despite the fact that they both belong to the same polymer family, they have distinct benefits and shortcomings.

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So, should you go with PTFE or PEEK? Here is an article that will clarify any doubts or misconceptions you may have about them both and which is better for your production goals before you visit your PTFE products manufacturer.

As the title suggests, requesting materials is not as simple as choosing the generic name of a base polymer and expecting good results.

To demonstrate this challenge, PEEK has been chosen as an example where there can be widely varied results.

Specification guidelines & generic material performance limitations suggest to valve manufacturers that from pressure class 600 and above &#;PEEK&#; is chosen as the valve seat material. This prompts many manufacturers to simply request &#;PEEK&#; from their supply chain, given that there are no further guidelines on how to request the right PEEK for an application. Not only is this risking damaged reputations, this is potentially a dangerous scenario that could have disastrous consequences for critical applications such as valves.

This scenario has been likened to animal species and, as an example, how the term &#;cat&#; could refer to a tiger, a mountain lion or a domestic pet. All of them legitimately fall into the category of &#;cat&#; and it is exactly the same with polymers. Just requesting PEEK could see a wide variety of raw material processing and manufacturing methods and material qualities being used. The end result could be a long way from what was expected but still legitimately classifying as a PEEK product.

The specified manufacturing process for PEEK, like most other materials, greatly affects the final product properties and performance. Whether a material is produced by Extrusion, Injection or Compression Moulding or other processing method will create a material with differing physical and chemical properties e.g. Tensile Strength, Molecular weight, density, crystallinity and modulus of the finished valve seat or product.

Using the valve analogy, procuring a valve seat in PEEK could result in inconsistent seal performance and greater force being applied to the seat, which then increases torque required to operate the valve. This knock on effect can have significant consequences on the amount of actuation required to operate a valve. In some instances manufactures have been forced to move to trunnion mounted designs since the floated ball valves can no longer accommodate the stresses. This ultimately prices them out of opportunities with massively over-specified solutions.

Typically well processed PEEK products can be twisted and worked without breaking. The same cannot be said of the sample in the image which is brittle and breaks easily when deformed. This is bad news for the installation and operation of the valves and service life expectations. In application these processes often involve working the material in some way so it is crucial that the material properties can accommodate this.

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So how can the situation be avoided?

There are a number of additional factors that should be taken into consideration to know you are making the right choice.

&#;            Material type (specifications and processing detail)

&#;            Data sheets (supplier specific)

&#;            3rd party testing

&#;            Customer testing

Finding a manufacturer with a specified consistent grade of material that has repeatable manufacturing processes in place is a must. Make sure this material is backed up by data sheets and for even more security look into specific tests that assure the material for use in certain applications.

This scenario has been likened to animal species and, as an example, how the term &#;cat&#; could refer to a tiger, a mountain lion or a domestic pet. All of them legitimately fall into the category of &#;cat&#; and it is exactly the same with polymers. Check out this tutorial on if you want to learn more on this subject after reading this article.&#;

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