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Knowledge Base  Material Considerations  FDM 3D printing materials compared

FDM 3D printing materials compared SHARE THIS ARTICLE

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Written by 3d Matter

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 Introduction

 Methodology

 Results

 Conclusion

Introduction
Choosing the right type of material to print a given object is becoming increasingly di cult, as the 3D
Printing market sees the regular emergence of radically new materials. In FDM 3D Printing , PLA and ABS
have historically been the two main polymers used, but their initial dominance was mostly fortuitous, so
there should not be any major roadblocks for other polymers to play a key role in the future of FDM.

We are now seeing new products become more popular, both pure polymers and composites. In this
study, we focus on the main pure polymers that exist in the market today: PLA, ABS, PET, Nylon, TPU
(Flexible) and PC. We sum up the key di erences between their properties in snapshot pro les so that
users can make a quick decision about the best polymer to use for their application.

Methodology
Materials are usually graded along 3 categories: mechanical performance, visual quality, and process. In
this case, we further break down these categories to paint a clearer picture of the polymer’s properties.
The choice of material really depends on what the user wants to print, so we listed the key decision
criteria needed to choose a material (other than cost and speed):

A spider web graph showing the material properties that will be compared

Ease of printing: How easy it is to print a material: bed adhesion, max printing speed, frequency of failed
prints, ow accuracy, ease to feed into the printer etc.

Visual quality: How good the nished object looks. More info on how we test it here.

Max stress: Maximum stress the object can undergo before breaking when slowly pulling on it.

Elongation at break: Maximum length the object has been stretched before breaking.

Impact resistance: Energy needed to break an object with a sudden impact.

Layer adhesion (isotropy): How good the adhesion between layers of material is. It is linked to “isotropy”
(=uniformity in all directions): the better the layer adhesion, the more isotropic the object will be.

Heat resistance: Max temperature the object can sustain before softening and deforming.

We also provide additional information that is not captured in the diagram, for one of two reasons:

They are neither “good” nor “bad” in essence; they are just properties that are suitable for some
applications and not for others, such as rigidity.

We don’t have a good quantitative assessment of it, but we know it is an important factor, such as
humidity resistance or toxicity.

Results
Each material has been ranked along the following criteria on a 1 (low) to 5 (high) scale. These are relative
grades for the FDM process - they would look quite di erent if other manufacturing technologies were
taken into account. Using the data from Optimatter, the polymers have been ranked along the di erent
criteria considered:

Research results for all six polymers displayed in one graph.

Get your parts printed in these materials:

PLA ABS PET Nylon TPU

PLA
PLA is the easiest polymer to print and provides good visual quality. It is very rigid and actually quite
strong, but is very brittle.

The material pro le of PLA

Pros Cons

Biosourced, biodegradable Low humidity resistance

Odorless Can't be glued easily

Can be post-processed with sanding paper

and painted with acrylics

Good UV resistance

ABS
ABS is usually picked over PLA when higher temperature resistance and higher toughness is required.

The material pro le of ABS

Pros Cons

Can be post-processed with acetone vapors

UV sensitive
for a glossy nish

Can be post-processed with sanding paper

Odor when printing
and painted with acrylics

Acetone can also be used as strong glue Potentially high fume emissions

Good abrasion resistance

PET
PET is a slightly softer polymer that is well rounded and possesses interesting additional properties with
few major drawbacks.

The material pro le of PET

Pros Cons

Can come in contact with foods Heavier than PLA and ABS

High humidity resistance

High chemical resistance

Recyclable

Good abrasion resitance

Can be post-processes with sanding paper

and painted with acrylics

Nylon
Nylon possesses great mechanical properties, and in particular, the best impact resistance for a non-
exible lament. Layer adhesion can be an issue, however.

The material pro le of Nylon

Pros Cons

Good chemical resistance Absorbs moisture

High strength Potentially high fume emissions

TPU
TPU is mostly used for exible applications, but its very high impact resistance can open for other
applications.

The material pro le of TPU

Pros Cons

Good abrasion resistance Di cult to post process

Good resistance to oil and grease Can't be glued easily

PC
PC is the strongest material of all, and can be an interesting alternative to ABS as the properties are quite
similar.

The material pro le of PC

Pros Cons

Can be sterilized UV sensitive

Easy to post-process (sanding)

Conclusion
Choosing the right polymer is critical to get the right properties for a 3D printed part, especially if the
part has a functional use. This article will help users nd the right material depending on the properties
they need. However, material suppliers also often provide blends or add additives to modify the
properties of the pure polymer (e.g. adding carbon ber to make the material sti er). We are not
addressing these more complex formulations in this article, but you can nd data on some of these
products in our optimization tool at OptiMatter.

Disclaimer
The grades given in this article are for an average polymer representing the general chemistry, but the
performance will vary depending on the actual product or supplier the user buys from.

All the data underlying our grades in this study was measured by 3D Matter, with the exception of Heat
Resistance, for which we used the glass temperature given by multiple lament suppliers.

For the sections called “Additional considerations”, we are using a combination of third-party assessments
and our own observations.

The Nylon type we discuss in this article is Nylon 6, not Nylon 11 or 12.

Visual quality is tested without any signi cant post-processing. There are ways to smoothen the prints
and improve the visual quality of a given polymer signi cantly (e.g. using acetone vapor on ABS).

The toxicity of 3D printing polymers is still not very well understood and is a factor that might play a
bigger role in the future. We are basing our comments regarding toxicity on one study by Azimi et al. [1]

[1] Azimi et al, Emissions of Ultra ne Particles and Volatile Organic Compounds from Commercially
Available Desktop Three-Dimensional Printers with Multiple Filaments, Environmental Science &
Technology, 2016

A big thank you to 3D Matter for sharing this material research with our community.

Previous Next

FDM 3D printing materials PLA vs. ABS: What's the

compared di erence?
Compare the main FDM 3D printing PLA and ABS are the most popular
plastics - PLA, ABS, PET, Nylon, TPU materials on 3D Hubs. This comparison
(Flexible) and PC - by material properties will help you select the best option for
and nd the best option for your your project.
application.

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