Guides / Sourcing
What AS9100 Does and Does Not Tell You About a PEEK Part
September 26, 2026
Sources: manufacturer datasheets and published standards. See editorial standards.
AS9100 gets written into aerospace purchase orders as if it settles the question of whether a shop can be trusted with the part. It settles a narrower question than that, and buyers who stop at the certificate number are skipping the checks that actually catch a bad PEEK part before it ships.
What AS9100 actually certifies
AS9100 is a quality management system standard built on top of ISO 9001, with added requirements around configuration management, risk management, first article inspection, counterfeit parts prevention and traceability that the aerospace industry asked for. A shop earns it through an external audit of its documented processes, records and corrective action system, repeated on a cycle.
What that certifies is the shop’s system: how it controls documents, how it handles nonconformances, how it manages configuration and change, and how it responds when something goes wrong. It is a real and meaningful audit. AS9100 itself does not test parts, and the certificate does not say the shop has ever machined PEEK, engineering plastic of any kind, or your specific geometry.
What it does not tell you
Material expertise. A shop can hold AS9100 and machine metal exclusively. PEEK behaves differently under a cutter, warps differently after machining and needs different fixturing than aluminium or titanium. None of that is covered by the certificate.
That this specific lot of PEEK is genuine and traceable. AS9100 requires the shop to have a traceability system. It does not verify, on its own, that the resin in your parts is virgin, correctly graded and lot-traceable to the resin producer. That verification is a separate ask, covered in verifying PEEK material.
That the part will hold your tolerance. A quality system audit checks whether the shop follows its documented process. It does not check whether that process is the right one for a thin-walled PEEK bracket that needs stress relief between roughing and finishing.
What to actually ask for
Four things, in the order they usually matter on a PEEK order:
Material traceability. A certificate of conformance with a lot number that traces to the resin producer, not just a statement that the material is PEEK. What that document should contain is covered in full in verifying PEEK material.
First article inspection. A dimensional report against every characteristic on your drawing, on the first part off a new setup. AS9100 requires this as a system element, but the useful version is the actual report against your specific drawing, not the fact that a procedure exists somewhere.
Process controls tied to the feature that matters. If a bore has to hold roundness through a thermal cycle, ask whether the shop anneals between roughing and finishing and how. If a boss carries a fastener, ask how they avoid crushing an unreinforced feature. These are process questions a certificate does not answer for you.
A straight answer about PEEK experience. How often do they run it, in which grades, and do they keep tooling for filled grades separate from unfilled work. A shop that answers this specifically has usually done it enough times to know where it goes wrong.
Where the certificate still matters
None of this means AS9100 is worth ignoring. It is a real signal that a shop’s paperwork, configuration control and corrective action system will hold up under a program audit, and for flight hardware under a manufacturer’s quality system, it is often a contractual requirement rather than a choice. The point is narrower: it tells you the system is sound, and you still have to ask the material and process questions yourself, because the certificate was never designed to answer them.
For non-flight aerospace work, ground support equipment, fixtures and tooling, a shop without AS9100 that answers the traceability and process questions directly can be the better and faster choice, and which certifications actually unlock PEEK work covers that trade-off from the shop’s side of the table.
Send the drawing with the traceability and inspection requirements spelled out, and we match you with shops that can answer those questions specifically, whether or not AS9100 is one of the boxes you need checked.
Supply or inspect material into aerospace PEEK work, resin, tooling or third-party test services? Send your vendor profile. A documented, checkable capability is exactly the kind of detail we name a vendor for.
Frequently asked questions
Does AS9100 mean a shop's PEEK parts are guaranteed correct?
No. AS9100 certifies that the shop runs a documented, audited quality management system. It does not test or certify any specific part, and it says nothing about that shop's specific experience machining PEEK or any other plastic.
If a shop is not AS9100 certified, can they still make good aerospace PEEK parts?
Often yes, particularly for non-flight hardware such as ground support equipment, fixtures and tooling. What matters more day to day is material traceability, first article inspection and a documented process, which a non-certified shop can still provide in writing.
What should I ask for instead of just requiring the certificate?
Ask for material traceability to the resin producer, a first article inspection report against your drawing, and process controls specific to the feature that matters, such as stress relief or bore roundness. The certificate is a starting filter, not the answer to any of those questions on its own.
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