PEEK vs. 2018 Aluminum
PEEK and 2018 aluminum belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. PEEK is a polymeric material, while 2018 aluminum is a metal. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 16 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (28, in this case) are not shown. Please note that the two materials have significantly dissimilar densities. This means that additional care is required when interpreting the data, because some material properties are based on units of mass, while others are based on units of area or volume.
For each property being compared, the top bar is PEEK and the bottom bar is 2018 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 4.0 to 24 | |
| 73 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 1.6 to 43 | |
| 9.6 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 50 to 100 | |
| 270 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 97 to 200 | |
| 420 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 330 | |
| 220 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 340 | |
| 510 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 1390 to 1700 | |
| 870 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 0.25 to 0.93 | |
| 150 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 15 to 52 | |
| 22 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 1.3 to 1.5 | |
| 3.1 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 1.5 to 10 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 36 to 73 | |
| 45 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 20 to 41 | |
| 38 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 36 to 55 | |
| 41 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 0.1 to 0.51 | |
| 57 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 34 to 57 | |
| 19 |