Should I choose high strength or high flexibility for 3D printing filament?

In today's common 3D printing market, there is a very diverse range of printing materials to choose from, such as PLA, TPU, PEGT, ABS, Nylon, etc. With different materials, the performance of the finished products printed is not the same. So when choosing 3D printing filament material, whether to choose high-strength or high-flexibility depends on your application needs.UJOYBIO3D will tell you, for choosing high-strength or high-flexibility materials, the following are listed below their characteristics and application scenarios.

Characteristics and Application Scenarios of High Strength and High Flexibility Filaments

From the table above, it is clear that both high-strength filament materials and highly flexible filament materials have their own characteristics, so we also need to compare them again in terms of demand, so that you can make a clearer choice:

Comparison of the characteristics of the two forms from the above, I believe you have a preliminary judgment, for the application of their own printing needs, you can start from their own needs, such as the need to use parts and so on, you can choose high-strength materials, you need to use the applicable cushioning and so on when the model model, you can choose high-flexibility filament materials.

Printing considerations for high-strength and high-flexibility materials

1. Precautions for high-strength filament materials

Heated bed temperature:

ABS, nylon and other filament materials need to be heated to a temperature between 50°C and 100°C to prevent warping when printing.

Printing environment:

Avoid the effects of airflow and temperature fluctuations during printing, ABS and nylon need a closed printing environment to minimize cracking or warping.

Extrusion Temperature:

Throughout the printing process, you need to ensure that you are printing with the right high temperatures, such as 190°C-230°C for PLA+ filament materials, 220°C-250°C for PETG filament materials, and 240°C-260°C for nylon filament materials.

Cooling Fan Setup:

For materials with high strength, such as PETG and nylon, it is recommended to reduce the cooling fan speed to avoid insufficient interlayer adhesion.

Reasonable addition of support structures:

For printing complex models, it is necessary to optimize the support structure, because it will be more difficult to remove the support of high-strength materials when compared to models of flexible materials.

Material hygroscopicity:

Because nylon and PETG materials are highly hygroscopic, the filament should be dried before printing to avoid the material being damp, resulting in poor printing, which can be dried at low temperatures using a dryer or oven, or microwave ovens for a short period of time.

Adhesion problems:

Before the start of printing, you can use the appropriate adhesive, such as glue sticks or special glue on the print bed, the market has a special dehydration for printing adhesion, the effect will be more desirable a little bit, coated with a little bit, to help the material attached to the print bed.

2. Precautions for highly flexible filament materials

Printing speed:

In order to have a better printing effect, you can reduce the printing speed, for example, try 20-40 mm/s first, in order to avoid the filament from knotting or stretching in the extrusion process.

Extruder type:

In general, it is a little more desirable to use a Direct Drive extruder, as flexible filament tends to tangle or bend in a long Bowden extruder.

Print Path:

Minimize excessive retraction during the print process to avoid filament pulling or kinking during retraction.

Interlayer Adhesion:

Filament materials like TPU require slightly higher print temperatures, typically between 200°C and 240°C, to enhance interlayer adhesion.

Bed preparation:

Typically, flexible materials require a higher level of adhesion to the print bed surface. PEI sheets or glue sticks applied to the bed surface can be used to ensure good adhesion of the first layer.

Printing Environment:

In most factors, the temperature stability requirement is lower than that of high-strength materials, but it is necessary to avoid low temperature of the print bed surface leading to delamination or warpage.

Flexible Parts Removal:

Because of the soft nature of flexible materials, care needs to be taken when removing them from the print bed to avoid pulling or tearing.

3. Things to keep in mind for both high-strength and high-flex filament materials

Optimization of slicing parameters:

Adjust slicing parameters such as layer height, fill density and speed to meet specific material requirements.

Printing equipment:

Ensure that the printer's nozzle and feeding system are suitable for the target material (e.g., high-temperature-resistant nozzles, direct-drive extruders).

Storage methods:

Both types of materials are sensitive to humidity and should be stored in airtight containers with desiccants.

Test Printing:

It is recommended that a small test run be conducted prior to formal printing to verify that the material properties match the print settings.

Recommended Filament Materials for Strength and Flexibility Combinations

In today's 3D printing materials have been quite extensive, each material has its own characteristics, some filament material manufacturers are directly using particles of synthesis, not on the material itself for modification, and the only material particles for modification is UJOYBIO3D manufacturers, it can be from the filament material particles crystal, from the nature of the material to do the optimization of polymer processing, which greatly improves the toughness of filament materials and impact strength. The following is a comparison of the parameters of UJOYBIO3D's two filament materials, Hyper PLA+ filament and Metallic PLA+ filament.

From the parameters in the table, we can understand that UJOYBIO3D's two filament materials can have a good balance of high strength and high flexibility for 3D printing, so it's not a bad choice for you to try.