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Posts Tagged ‘Carbon fiber filament’
Ultimate 3D Printing Materials Guide by Simplify3D
15, Feb 2018
The last few years have been great for 3D printing and that goes for the development of different materials to be used with them as well. We’ve seen and tried a lot of new and different experimental materials ourselves and have covered many of them here as well. With filaments designed for 3D printing there are different strengths and weaknesses, so choosing the right one for the job can be a bit of a challenge. Now there is one more useful resource that you can check out regarding different popular materials along with useful and interesting information about each of them thanks to Simplify3D. Their 3D Printing Materials Guide explores all of the popular filaments in use today, providing expert tips to improve your 3D printing results with each material covered. The guide includes in-depth articles for more than a dozen different filament types, along with a detailed Properties Table for comparing the physical and mechanical properties of one material against another.
Along with the Ultimate 3D Printing Materials Guide, there is also a robust Filament Properties Table that compiles 25 different properties and characteristics for each material. The Table includes detailed metrics such as strength, stiffness, density, and other mechanical properties that could be useful when designing your next part. A built-in comparison tool can be used to select specific materials for side-by-side comparison. Having all of this information in one place greatly simplifies the challenge of selecting the best material for a specific application.
– To check out the Ultimate 3D Printing Materials Guide by Simplify3D…
– Here you can find the Filament Properties Table for direct comparison…
- In: 3D Printing News
- Tags: 3D printer filaments, 3d printer materials, 3d printing materials, ABS, ASA, Carbon fiber filament, filament features, filament parameters, filament properties, filament specifications, filament strengths, filament weaknesses, flexible filament, HIPS, Metal Filled, Nylon, PETG, PLA, Polycarbonate, Polypropylene, PVA, Simplify3D, Wood Filled
ColorFabb XT-CF20 is a copolyester based carbon fiber composite material that is based on the Amphora 3D polymer from Eastman Chemical and is loaded with no less than 20% specially sourced carbon fibers suitable for 3D Printing. The XT-CF20 filament uses the XT-Copolyester instead of the PLA/PHA from COlorFabb and the result is a filament with higher strength and toughness as well as resistance to higher temperatures before starting to get soft. The not so good thing compared to PLA/PHA is that a heated build plate is recommended for using the XT-Copolyester for your prints to stick better, although you could end up getting good results on 3D printers without a HBP as well. The combination of XT-Copolyester with 20% of carbon fibers in the ColorFabb XT-CF20 is very good and prints using this filament, we have previously tested carbon fiber-based filaments with PLA such as Proto Pasta’s Carbon Fiber PLA, but the XT-CF20 does seem to do better job.
The XT-CF20 does seem to be less brittle and a bit more stiffer with a better resistance to higher temperatures thanks to the 80 degrees Celsius glass transition temperature. The carbon fiber-based solution from ColorFabb also does seem to contain a bit more carbon fibers – 20% as opposed to just 15% in the Carbon Fiber PLA that we have previously tested. ColorFabb XT-CF20 does require higher printing temperature with 240-260C recommended, it is recommended to be printed using 40-70 mm/s speed and a heated build plate (if available) is recommended at 60-70C. Also do note that carbon fiber filament is more abrasive than standard filament, so it can shorten the life of standard brass nozzles by increasing the wear level. So it is recommended to use a printing nozzle with some sort of coating such as the ones we have tested from Performance 3-d or AVN Swiss.
We have tested printing with the ColorFabb XT-CF20 carbon fiber filament on our trustworthy MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer with some useful upgrades such as a coated nozzle and added HBP, so we had not trouble or worries using the XT-CF20 filament. The first test was to try and print using the carbon fiber filament on a cold build plate, we’ve already had some experience using the XT-Copolyerster filament using the ColorFabb XT Transparent Filament earlier this year before upgrading the 3D printer with a heated build platform. Interestingly enough the XT-CF20 carbon fiber filament does seem to print easier and to stick better than the XT transparent filament probably due to the carbon fibers. All we’ve had to do was to enable the use of rafts and we got a great quality print on our first try at 240 degrees Celsius printing temperature and going to 260C did not make much difference. We were able to print smaller parts at 90 mm/s printing speed at 0.2 mm layer height without any trouble, though you would probably want to reduce the speed a bit for finer details. Also no trobule removing the raft from the actual model and getting a good quality base of the part that was 3D printer on the raft.
Next was to test the ColorFabb XT-CF20 carbon fiber filament using the heated build plate at the recommended settings and see how things will go without having to use a raft when printing. We have started with 240C extruder temperature and tried with both 60C and 70C temperature of the HBP, but with both we’ve had trouble with the base of the 3D printer part to stick properly on the build plate. Moving to 250 degrees Celsius for the extruder we had the part sticking better and remaining on the build plate, but the base of printer part has shown that it still did not stick perfectly at either 60C or 70C HBP temperature. Going to 260C for the extruder and we got the filament sticking well at either 60-70C temperature for the heated build plate. The only problem that remains and that is associated with the high extrusion temperature is that the filament oozes from the nozzle a bit more when the printing head moves over longer distances to continue printing for larger objects. Other than that, with the right settings the ColorFabb XT-CF20 carbon fiber filament does seem quite easy to work with and provides good results, now we only need to print some parts that would be stress tested like something for an RC model.
The European filament manufacturer ColorFabb has announced the release of a new special filament using carbon fibers mixed with thermoplastic material that should be as easy to print on most 3D printers. ColorFabb XT CF20 is a copolyester based carbon fiber composite material that is based on the unique Amphora 3D polymer from Eastman Chemical and is reinforced with 20% specially sourced carbon fibers, making it perfect for printing parts which need high stiffness. Combining carbon fibers in filaments material is not a new idea, but ColorFabb has been able to combine a lot of desired properties into 1 new material. Still the company does warn users that due to the abrasive nature of the carbon fibers using this new filament will accelerate the nozzle-wear of brass nozzles, much faster than other standard types of filaments, so they recommend to use nozzles from Stainless steel or hardened copper alloys.
ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon filament features:
– Extreme High Flex Modulus (6.2 GPa) / twice as stiff as PLA
– Moderate strain at break (8-10%), so no extreme brittle filament, butt toughness
– High Glass Temp. (Tg = 80C)
– Very high Melt strength
– Very high Melt Viscosity
– Good dimensional accuracy and stability
– Low odor / Styrene Free solution
– Easy processing on many platforms
– High attractive matt black surface
The ColorFabb XT-CF20 special filament with Carbon fibers is already available for pre-order with the first orders expected to start shipping at the end of February. The price of a single spool with a weight of 750 grams in either 1.75mm or 2.85mm diameters is €49.95 EURO or roughly $57 USD. This makes the price of the Carbon fiber reinforced filament from ColorFabb pretty much the same as the one that the USA-based Proto-Pasta sells their Carbon PLA filament. The advantage here is that ColorFabb is based in Europe and if you order from Europe it should come cheaper than if you get the USA product, however although the two filaments seem very similar there are some differences. You should be aware that the Proto-Pasta Carbon PLA filament that we have already tested recently is mixing carbon fibers with PLA, but ColorFabb is using the Amphora 3D polymer instead and thus it has slightly different properties.
The Eastman Amphora 3D polymer is a low-odor, styrene-free choice that is uniquely suited for 3D Printing applications. With Amphora, makers can create items that are more functional, durable, efficient, and attractive. Amphora also complies with certain U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations for food contact applications. The XT-CF20 Carbon filament as well as other ColorFabb XT-Copolyester based filaments are supposed to offer stronger and more detailed parts, offer higher temperature and better chemical resistance as compared to standard PLA filament. The side effect is that you need to use higher temperature of the extruder when printing, 240-260 degrees Celsius are recommended with printing speeds of 40-70 mm/s and the use of a heated build plate is also advised. This means that you need higher temperature, a bit slower printing speed and a heat build plate for best results – things that are not required for PLA-based Carbon fiber reinforced filaments, although the heated build plate may not be required. We are going to be testing ColorFabb XT-Copolyester 3D printer filament soon on out Makerbot Replicator 2 3D printer that does not features a heated build platform, so that we can see how well these filaments will work in our case. ColorFabb recommends that you disable the extruded filament cooling fan of 3D printers that are not equipped with heated build plate when using their XT filaments for the first centimeter and/or using rafts in order to get best results. If the Amphora 3D polymer used in the ColorFabb XT-Copolyester filaments does indeed work well with no warping when not printed on heated build platform we do plan to also try out the new ColorFabb XT-CF20 Carbon Fiber filament when it starts shipping.