Preliminary market analysis of PEEK in South America: opportunities and challenges

The increasing applications of poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) in the industry makes this polymer appealing for the development of a new industry focused on its production. PEEK displays remarkable mechanical properties that are not commonly found in polymeric materials, and its biocompatibility becomes attractive for the manufacture of prosthesis, stents and many other medical apparatuses. In addition, the new technique of Additive Manufacturing (AM) enables the printing of highly complex geometries with low weight, aiming the automotive and aeronautic industries as well. Despite not being relatively new, there are not many enterprises producing PEEK in the world, especially in the South American market. This raises a question regarding the size of the PEEK market in this region and the expected demand for the upcoming years. Therefore, this paper aims to analyze and predict the demand of PEEK for the Mercosur and Brazil markets, verifying the feasibility of the creation of a specialized industry in the region.