¿WHAT FILAMENT FOR 3D PRINTING SHOULD I USE?
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This is a question that we have all asked ourselves when making a 3D print, and to answer this question we must take two things into account, the type of printer you have and the purpose of 3D printing.
Although currently FDM printers are able to work with different types of materials, providing very good finishes, it is important to highlight that there are technical materials that require specific conditions to print that not all common printers have. For example, there are materials such as Polycarbonate whose printing temperature range exceeds 260°C and FDM 3D printers commonly only go up to that temperature; or in the case of TPU, which is a flexible material, it is recommended that it be printed on FDM printers with a direct extruder, since being flexible it can be prone to jams. It is also worth highlighting the case of ABS, which, although it does not require a specialized 3D printer, does require an enclosure to establish an optimal printing environment, since it is a material that, if there is an imbalance in temperature, the layers They are not fixed correctly and a printing problem called “Cracking” occurs.
Leaving aside the characteristics of the printers, now we are going to talk about the purpose of 3D printing.
If you want to prototype something that is easy to print, so you can achieve very good finishes, PLA is the best option; This is because it is the material with the greatest ease of printing and it is the material in which the greatest variety of colors can be found thanks to its high rotation in the market.
If you are looking for something of medium resistance, with which you can have good mechanical behavior, and that also has good ease of printing, you can opt for PET-G, this material has an average mechanical behavior between PLA and ABS.
When high mechanical behavior is required, another factor must be analyzed: if the part to be printed must be completely rigid, ABS could be chosen, since this material has an excellent bond between layers and this makes it mechanically very capable.
If the need for this high mechanical behavior allows the piece to have a certain flexibility, Polypropylene is a great option since it is a semi-flexible material, resistant to impacts and different chemical agents.
Another material that falls within the materials with high mechanical behavior are mixtures with Carbon Fiber. These mixtures give the base material much higher resistance.
For special high flexibility applications, TPU or TPE is a material for 3D printing that provides great flexibility depending on its hardness composition, which ranges from 95A being the most commercial and making the material have good flexibility, and also finding a hardness of 40A on the market, already an extremely high level of flexibility.
