PEEK is the most common member of a family of  high-performance, crystalline  polymers broadly identified as polyarylether ketones (PAEK). PEEK offers a nearly 500°F (250°C) continuous use temperature and excellent resistance to hot water, steam and most common chemicals including acids and bases. It is inherently flame resistant with better chemical resistance than all but fluoropolymers and wear resistance that exceeds  most thermoplastics especially as temperature increases.

PEEK is used for reusable medical devices and even implantable components. It is also used by the oil and gas industry within downhole tools and downstream fuid handling systems and the food processing industry especially for equipment parts exposed to high temperatures including hot water. Introduced in the late 1970’s by ICI (now Victrex) as the next generation high performance polymer with superior heat resistance, strength and chemical resistance. Today PEEK is widely used for both injection molded and machined parts.