Material Comparisons

We live in a fantastic world to have literally hundreds of colors available in dozens of different materials for hobby 3D printing

TPU "Thermoplastic PolyUrethane", TPE "ThermoPlastic Elastomer", Flexible-PLA, etc.

• Softest material straight from a filament printer
  • Has more in common with rubber than plastic
• Best impact resistance
• Adequate temperature resistance
  • Innate flexibility allows its use well above the glass transition temperature

• Moisture

  • TPU and TPE filaments MUST be dry!
  • Moist filament has horrible print quality
  • Weaknesses are created in each layer by Steam bubbles

• Uses

  • Anything that needs to be flexible or survive regular & significant impacts
  • If the low temp and flexibility aren't problems, this can be used in place of many other plastics

• Issues

  • Flexibility, stretch, compression, etc. are REAL problems for some extruder styles
    • Bowden systems can usually deal down to 95a shore hardness materials if printed SUPER S L O W
    • Multi-Material systems can RARELY deal with 95a materials (MMU, Palette, AMS, etc.)

• My Opinions

  • Medium to poor aesthetic print quality when compared to other filament materials
  • Printing flexible materials can offer many new possibilities for home 3D printers
    • Rubber mallet, corner bumpers, cane tips, protective cases, etc.

ABS "Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene"

• Requires higher temperature "All Metal" hot end
  
• Negative issues
  • Warping - Ambient closer to Tg helps
  • Possible layer delamination- Ambient closer to Tg helps
  • Noxious off-gassing - Enclosed printing with internal carbon filter or after-print venting helps
• Prefers enclosure/print chamber to be kept around half it's glass transition point (~50c)
• Any plastic containing Styrene stinks when printing and reacts with Acetone
  

• Post-processing

  • Can be Vapor Smoothed using Acetone for glassy smooth prints

  • Sands nicely by machine if kept cool, sanding by hand can be dusty
    • Recommend wet sanding when possible
  • Painting protects the plastic from UV deterioration and fills in layer lines

• My Opinions

  • Mostly seal a 3d printer into an enclosure to keep both Heat and Stink inside while printing
    
  • Thin nylon photography tents might be OK if the room is already REALLY warm but they loose heat quickly
  • Thin plastic sheeting works better than nylon but suffers from poor insulation qualities if ambient temp is cool
  • Large cardboard box worked great but I didn't like unfolding the flaps to touch printer each time
    
  • IKEA LACK table with foam-core craft board walls/door made for excellent insulation

ASA "Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate"

• Requires higher temperature "All Metal" hot end
  
• • Negative issues
    Warping - Ambient closer to Tg helps
    Possible layer delamination- Ambient closer to Tg helps
    Noxious off-gassing - Enclosed printing with internal carbon filter or after-print venting helps
• Prefers enclosure/print chamber to be kept around half it's glass transition point (~50c)
• Any plastic containing Styrene stinks when printing and reacts with Acetone
  

• Post-processing

  • Can be Vapor Smoothed using Acetone for glassy smooth prints

  • Sands nicely by machine if kept cool, sanding by hand can be dusty
    • Recommend wet sanding when possible
  • Painting protects the plastic from UV deterioration and fills in layer lines

• My Opinions

  • Mostly seal a 3d printer into an enclosure to keep both Heat and Stink inside while printing
    
  • Thin nylon photography tents might be OK if the room is already REALLY warm but they loose heat quickly
  • Thin plastic sheeting works better than nylon but suffers from poor insulation qualities if ambient temp is cool
  • Large cardboard box worked great but I didn't like unfolding the flaps to touch printer each time
    
  • IKEA LACK table with foam-core craft board walls/door made for excellent insulation

PLA "PolyLactic Acid", PLA+, PLA-Pro, etc.

• Stiffest material
  • Generally bends less easily than other materials
• Hardest material
  • Resists deformation by a pointy thing better than most (at least to start with...)
• Very poor temperature resistance
  • Prints left in a hot car will likely deform
• Very poor impact resistance
  • PLA Hammer + Nail = Plastic Shrapnel
• Very poor creep resistance
  • PLA shelf bracket + (insert time) = Shelf on floor
  • I use PLA for a ton of things, but when it MUST hold weight, I use PC or PA depending on impact requirement
• "+" and "Pro" modifiers vary wildly between manufacturers
  • Test EVERY new material; Make no assumptions about the modifiers or their expected properties

• Deterioration

  • Increased stringing with more moisture typically, but usually very mild compared to PETG, TPU, etc.
  • Embrittlement with extended moisture or Ultraviolet light exposure
    • These traits seem to follow the base material rather than the additives or colorants
      
    • Some transparent, translucent, or silk filaments seemed to be significantly less affected

• Post-processing

  • Sanding PLA is SLOW! - If sanded too briskly the dust melts back onto the part, ruining the surface
  • 3D Gloop is the only "consumer accessible" smoothing agent for PLA - Industrial chemicals are available
  • Painting protects the plastic from UV deterioration and fills in layer lines
    • Lighter colors absorb less heat
    • Glossy finishes absorb less heat

• Uses

  • Anything that will live inside a home (No UV and low heat)
  • No large physical stresses placed upon it (Creeping over time)

• Known Exceptions (to the normal rules)

  • Protopasta HTPLA (High Temperature Polylactic Acid)
    • Prints like normal PLA then heat treated at increasing temperatures to get ~100c heat deflection temp!
    • Warpage during heat treat process can be an issue for some part geometries
    • https://proto-pasta.com/pages/high-temp-pla
  • Lay-Filaments Reflect-O-Lay Flexible PLA
    • Prints and physically acts like soft (<90) TPU/TPE
    • Feels somewhat "fuzzy" and a lot like rubber
    • Crazy retroreflector effect
    • http://lay-filaments.com/LayFilaments-Overview+LightMeta5-b.pdf

• My Opinions

  • Best for aesthetic print quality
  • Seems to "creep" under any significant stresses
  • Favorite material for prototyping $$$ (prototypes become finished products when they work the first time)

PETG, PETG+, PETG-Pro, etc.

• Prints on most printers capable of PLA
• Adequate temperature resistance

PC

• Requires higher temperature "All Metal" hot end
  

PP

• Requires higher temperature "All Metal" hot end
  

PA, Nylon, etc.

• Requires higher temperature "All Metal" hot end
  

PE

• Requires higher temperature "All Metal" hot end
  

More to come...