TypeR
1
I have been desinging a part for the interior of a car.
The design of the part is basically finished and I have printed a testpart in white PLA. It is a non-supporting part.
However, although the part printed in PLA is very strong, it is not able to resist the higher temperatures than can be reached in the car’s interior. On a trip in France, the part warped.
I tried printing the part in ABS, but for some reasons, the final result is weaker than the same print in PLA. There are some protrusions on the rear which break off very easily with the ABS part.
I was wondering, how does XT and/or Nylon compare when it comes to strength and temperature resistance. I would like to have at least the same strength (of breaking) to PLA, but with a higher temperature resistance.than PLA.
1 Like
MB3D
2
Hi there! XT can be used up to 70-80C, PLA gets soft and deformable at 50C. ABS can be used at temperature ranges up to 100C and nylon up to 50-70c. XT is not as stiff as PLA, but definitely as strong/stronger. I’ve printed some large parts in XT and couldn’t break them, even when throwing them down onto the road from the 2nd floor (5meters). The problem, that you had with ABS is, that it has poor layerbonding and should get an acetone treatment to ensure strength. While Nylon is also a bit flexible, it is more wear resistant, compared to XT. nylon can soak up water or moisture, which weakens the print and lowers the heat resistance. Nylon is also tricky to print, you have to dry it in an oven before printing and you have to store it airtight. XT can be exposed to any environmental situation (water, most chemicals). Also XT is food safe. XT will most likely be the better alternative, it might be a but cheaper then nylon too. If you need more stiffness you should check out XT CF 20, which is 80% XT and 20% carbon fibres, which make XT CF20 twice as stiff as common PLA. Check the printing guides for carbon fiber materials, those filaments are a lot more abrasive and will act like printing with sandpaper. This means, that your nozzle will have a larger diameter after printing with XT CF20.
TypeR
3
Thank you for the reply.
I was looking for the allowable temperature range of XT and couldn’t really find it. At long as it is as strong as PLA it is fine with me.
Do you know if XT can be painted easily?
I was a bit worried about printing the part in Nylon. Nylon parts I have printed seem to be very strong (as long as you keep your filament dry), but as I understand it, it is be difficult to paint (as in car paint, so getting a high quality finish might be important).
The idea is that once the part is fitted to center console of the car, it should be painted the exact same color.
MB3D
4
Nylon has a very smooth and slippery surface, this makes Nylon basically impossible to glue and the same problem applies to painting. The paint doesn’t stick well to Nylon, the only way to color it is dying, but it will be a very hard task to get the right color and consistency.
XT can very easily be painted, I’ve used acrylic spray paint without a primer and it sticks perfectly with very good color trueness.
I would recommend to use Polyester based filler and sandpaper of 120-240 grid to get a very smooth surface. After that you can use spray or brush the object in any acrlyic color. As long as you don’t pic the cheapest spray paint, you don’t need a primer, but I’d recommend it anyways!
Be sure to apply one or two clear coats after painting, to protect the surface.
XT can be sanded with electric tools, this isn’t possible with PLA, as it gets too hot while sanding and will get soft during the sanding. However you should be carefull when using your tools at full power, also you should constantly move the tool across the surface, don’t keep it on one spot for too long!
If you want to glue XT, you can use cyanacrlyate glue (known as superglue), BUT you have to apply an adhesive primer first. Sometimes a pack of superglue includes such primer as either a spray or stick (like an edding). Without the primer the glue won’t stick. If you can choose from different superglues, choose the one, that takes longer to dry. With the primer some glues harden within 5 seconds, which makes it impossible, to align both parts.
1 Like
Type A Machines has a great page about the variety of materials available for FDM printing! SolidState2.0
2 Likes
dying nylon is really cool and works well.
i have found it is better to dye the filament and then print (after thorough drying) as dying the printed part can make it change a bit (the dye solution should be hot) but the colours can b great with RIT dyes. (anything acid based.)
3DVR
8
Currently we only have Co-Polyester loaded for durability parts as loading the machines with Nylon wears down the machine heads precision.
XT
High strength and very high toughness, Odor Neutral processing, High Tg / improved temp. resistance, Styrene free formulation, FDA food contact compliance, BPA (Bisphenol A ) free formulation.
https://colorfabb.com/materials/co-polyesters/colorfabb-xt
