PEEK (polyether ether ketone) is known for its strength, heat resistance, and chemical durability. These qualities make it a go-to material for tough jobs.
But it comes at a high cost.
When you machine PEEK from a solid block or rod, a lot of that expensive material can end up as waste. If you’re looking for a better way to manage your material use—and your budget—injection molding is worth considering.
The PEEK Paradox: High Performance vs. High Machining Waste
PEEK performs well in demanding environments. It’s used in aerospace, medical, and industrial parts where failure isn’t an option.
But here’s the challenge: it’s not cheap. And machining it can waste a lot of material.
Let’s say you start with an 8-foot stick of 3-inch round PEEK. That might cost thousands of dollars. When you machine parts from it, large sections are cut away and turned into swarf (small chips and shavings). That swarf can’t be reused in most high-spec applications.
So while you’re getting strong, reliable parts, you’re also throwing away a good chunk of your investment.
Injection Molding: Designing PEEK Parts for Maximum Material Efficiency
The “Melt and Mold” Advantage
Injection molding works differently than machining. It starts with PEEK pellets, which are melted down. Then, the molten plastic is injected into a mold shaped like your part.
Only the amount of material needed for the part—and a small amount for the runner system—is used. This means less waste compared to cutting away from a block.
Optimizing Part Design for Moldability and Minimal Waste
Design for Manufacturability (DFM) is a way to design parts that are easy and efficient to mold. When you use DFM for PEEK injection molding, you can:
- Reduce thick, solid sections that use extra material
- Use core-outs (hollowed areas) that lower weight and cost without losing strength
- Create runner systems that are compact and efficient
These choices help you use less material without changing how the part works.
Real-World Savings: Reducing Swarf and Boosting Your Bottom Line with PEEK Molding
Walk into a machining shop and you’ll often see bins full of PEEK chips. That’s all wasted material. You paid for it, but it didn’t end up in your parts.
With injection molding, most of what you melt goes into the final product.
If you’re making a complex part with a lot of curves, holes, or detailed features, machining might waste over 50% of the starting material. With injection molding, the waste is much lower—mainly runners and sprues, which may even be reused depending on the grade and part needs (source: Victrex).
The more parts you make, the more that material savings add up.
Conclusion
PEEK is a high-value material, so you want to use it wisely.
Injection molding gives you a way to get strong, high-performance parts with far less waste. That means lower cost per part—especially when you’re making many of them.
If you’re still machining PEEK and watching the chips pile up, it might be time to rethink your process. This near-net-shape method could help you cut costs and use your material more efficiently.
Talk to our team to find out if injection molding is right for your next PEEK project.
