Overview of available materials
> ABS
Acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) is a thermoplastic polymer. It is one of the most used polymers in 3D printing. Depending on its composition, the properties of ABS can vary: high toughness, high rigidity and high chemical resistance are its assets. The 3D printing of ABS is well known and high quality printings can be achieved with the appropriate settings.
> PLA
PLA, for polylactic acid, is a rigid thermoplastic polyester polymer. It is the main polymer produced from renewable resources. Indeed, PLA can be derived from corn, tapioca roots (a derivative of cassava roots) or even sugarcane. This way, it is a biodegradable and bioactive polymer. Also, this polymer is obtained through a ‘green’ process, that make it unique in the market. Due to its numerous good properties, PLA is one of the main polymer produced and consumed in a broad range of applications. For example, you can find PLA in medical implants, packaging materials or plastic cups. It is also a first-choice material for 3D printing or injection molding because it is easily processed by extrusion.
> NinjaFlex
The NinjaFlex is a formulated thermoplastic polyurethane, a type thermoplastic elastomer (TPEs). These polymers are the association of a thermoplastic phase and a rubber matrix. Fenner Dives, Inc was the one who introduced the Ninjaflex in 2014. The NinjaFlex can be deposited by fused deposition modeling (FDM), stereolithography (SL) and laser sintering. Among these different techniques, the FDM remains by far the most commun deposition technique. The NinjaFlex is an interesting material due to the fact that it can be printed and possess a great flexibility and elastic regime (elongation at break up to 660%). Due to its large flexibility and damping factor, it could be used as bumper for application at room temperature. However it might not be suitable for the done due to it 120°C environnement in which the drone will be exposed.
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> FlexiFil
FlexiFil is a thermoplastic copolyester elastomer (TPC or TPE-E). This polymer is a copolymer presenting two phases : one hard phase that behaves like thermoplastic polymers and a soft phase presenting the characteristics of an elastomer. This way, it has many of the physical properties of rubbers (softness, flexibility,...) but is relatively easily processed as thermoplastics. The FlexiFil filament is a relatively new polymer, but thermoplastic elastomers were introduced about 1960, and available on the industrial market during the 1970s. FlexiFil has recently been commercialized by the FormFuturas firm. Thermoplastic elastomers distinguish from the other polymers due to their flexibility. They can be easily molded or extruded and deposited by FDM and so are used as rubber-like 3D printer filaments. This way, FlexiFil is a very useful polymer to be printed when there is a need of flexural mechanical component. It finds lots of applications for example in the biomedical field.
> nGen Colorfab
nGen Colorfab filaments are made with Eastman's Amphora AM3300, which is a copolyester with similar composition to PETG (polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified). It was created as an alternative for ABS and PLA, but in a more flexible and easier to print version. It has a wide processing temperature range. It is known for its odour neutral printing, its stability during additive manufacturing and its excellent surface finish.
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> Taulman 618 nylon
Taulman618 is the first of many nylon 3D printing filament commercialised by Taulman 3D. Nylons, which are thermoplastic semi-crystalline polyamides, are well known for high strength, chemical resistance and excellent thread-to-thread bonding, rendering them the ideal printing material for strong, resistant 3D parts.
> Taulman 645 nylon
The Taulman 645 is an improved version of Taulman 618 especially designed for 3D printing by Taulman 3D. Indeed, it is stronger and less hygroscopic. Moreover, it is a nylon, which means a thermoplastic polyamide with a semicrystalline structure. It is known for its very good thermal and mechanical properties.
> Overview of the properties
> Taulman bridge nylon
The Taulman Bridge combines the strength of the nylon 645 and the price of ABS and PLA thermoplastics. This Bridge is basically like the Taulman nylon 645 “that you can consult here”, but with different improvements.
First, its adhesion to the platform has been increased which was a trouble for nylon based polymers.
In addition to this, the Bridge nylon has a reduced the water up-take, which enables the Bridge nylon to last longer in wet environment. They also reduced the shrinkage, and lowered the price.
> AquaSolve PVA
AquaSolve PVA is a semicrystalline material made of polyvynil alcohol (>75%), aliphatic polyol (<20%) and calcium distearate (<5%). It is a water soluble polymer, mostly used as a 3D printing filament in dual extrusion as a support for PLA or ABS, to achieve complex structures. However, because of this property, it requires precautions to print, as for example drying and storage in and cool and dry room. Moreover, it cannot be easily used with a lot of our printing filament. Therefore, it is more difficult to print than HIPS which will be used as support material if needed.
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> High Impact Polystyrene (Limosolve)
The high impact polystyrene HIPS is a polystyrene reinforced by polybutadiene. Its interesting properties, low cost and machinability makes it interesting in a wide range of industrial application. As a 3D printing material, the HIPS became popular with the invention of dual extruder 3D printing. As it is soluble in limonene, HIPS is an suitable support material for many 3D printing finalement.
> PCL
Polycaprolactone is a semi-crystalline polyester. In 3D printing, PCL is the polymer of choice if biocompatibility and/or biodegradability are required for the application.
> FEP filament
Fluorinated ethylene propylene or commonly called FEP is a thermoplastic fluoropolymer created by Dupont. The FEP filament is well known for its heat resistance and chemical inertness. It was especially designed to print at high speed of extrusion compared to the other fluoropolymer resins.
More informations
> ABS-PC
It is a polymer combining to other polymers, ABS and polycarbonate (PC), in order to generate new interesting features like improved mechanical properties compared to pure ABS or a higher liquefaction temperature.
> PVDF
​Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) has been discovered in 1948 and was first commercialised by Pennsalt (now called Arkema) in 1961 under the brand name Kynar. It is a polymer with good mechanical properties as well as a great oxidative stability and weatherability.
More information
Below is a quick overview of the thermal and mechanical properties we judged important in order to make an adequate selection base on the requirements of our application.
Beside the name of each filament is an arrow shaped button. This will lead to further information about the selected filament.