Gold nanoparticles as additives in polyether ether ketone (PEEK) filaments used in 3D printing

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Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is a thermoplastic polymer widely used in biomedical applications due to high mechanical strength (comparable to human bones), biocompatibility, chemical stability and economic costs. Certain formulations of PEEK have already been approved for human implantation by the health authorities. Recently, new additive manufacturing (i.e., 3D printing) equipment were developed to facilitate the production of PEEK biomedical implants. One of the major difficulties faced by 3D printing for PEEK, is the necessity to heat the polymer filament to more than 300oC. Therefore, dedicated equipment have been developed for this specific application. Then, in many emerging biomedical applications, PEEK filaments used as the "polymer ink" or "feed", require certain additives in the PEEK matrix, such as gold nanoparticles. This is particularly important for the development of polymer implants to be used in medical physics applications such as fiducials for surgery (implants that are visible in X-ray imaging), or photo thermal therapy implants (heat produced by gold nanoparticles through infrared irradiation). Both of these applications require an optimal dispersion of gold nanoparticles in the PEEK filaments. Unfortunately, there is a scarcity of data in the literature about the most optimal PEEK melting, nanoparticle blending and extrusion procedures to provide a uniform dispersion of gold nanoparticles in PEEK filaments to be used in 3D printers. In this research partnership, an academic laboratory (Dr Fortin, U.Laval) specialized in nano materials for biomedical imaging and radiotherapy as well as 3D printing of biomedical polymers, partners with a company (Sona Nanotech) expert in the production of gold nanorods of high quality and purity that absorb in the near IR, and generate heat when excited with IR light. The research team will establish the procedures leading to an optimal distribution of gold nano rods into extruded PEEK filaments used in 3D printing of biomedical implants. The results of thi