Composite materials (filled with carbon, kevlar or glass)

Basic info

Composite materials (PC, PETG, Polyamide, PP, or other materials filled with carbon, glass, etc.) usually have different mechanical properties than unaltered filaments. Composite filaments have better dimensional stability, can be more lightweight, but printing with them requires a hardened nozzle.

Recommended nozzle temperature: 240-285 °C (depending on filament type)

Recommended bed temperature: 70-110 °C (depending on filament type)

Heatbed: Print surface preparation depends on the filament type. See our material table to find out more.

Description

Carbon, glass or kevlar fibers are mixed with various polymers in order to improve their mechanical properties. Some of our Prusaments are altered this way: PA (Nylon), PC Blend and PP. Prusament PETG Carbon Fiber black is filled with carbon fibers too, but just for aesthetic purposes. Fibers (in general) inside the filament improve its dimensional stability, making it lightweight and less susceptible to warping. It also increases high-temperature resistance and tensile yield strength but it usually decreases Charpy impact resistance and layer-to-layer adhesion. Printing temperatures are slightly higher than for unaltered filaments. Some cheap filaments may have worse print characteristics, for example often nozzle clogging, oozing, and filament breaking.

To compare supported material properties, see our material table.

Pros	Cons
✔ Good abrasion resistance	✖ A hardened steel nozzle is needed
✔ Dimensional stability	✖ Filament more brittle
✔ Similar printing temperature to single material filaments	✖ Worse layer-to-layer adhesion
✔ Nice look	✖ High risk of nozzle clogging

Best use

Composite filaments are mostly used for making RC models (drone frames, airframes, car parts, etc.), in the aircraft industry (functional prototypes) and automobile industry (functional prototypes). However, it usually carries properties of unaltered polymers: PP and PA have great chemical resistance, for example.

Tips for successful printing

Use a hardened nozzle

Carbon, glass and kevlar fibers are highly abrasive so it is necessary to use a hardened nozzle.

Clean the nozzle before printing

It’s good to make cold pull before printing to make sure that the nozzle is really clean.

First layer settings

The first layer should be perfectly fine, otherwise, you risk the nozzle clogging. The higher the layer height is and the wider the nozzle diameter is, the lower the chance of clogging the nozzle is. The lowest optimal values are 0.4mm nozzle diameter and 0.2mm layer height.

Print surface preparation

Print surface preparation depends on the filament type. See our material table to find out more.

Sample prints


RC drone frame	Turbine

Turboprop

5 comments

Horst

•

12 months ago

Hello.Printing with PETG Carbon, requires higher temps as with the regular PETG. The menu on the printer to select the filament when loading, does not consider such Filament. Is there a chance to avoid having the warning of different filament when printing and the need to adjust temperatures manually? For now I'm using ASA settings, nonetheless, the bed temp needs still to be adjusted manually. Thanks.

Todd

•

about 1 year ago

Any disadvantage of leaving the steel nozzle in the printhead, regardless of that material is used? Or do I need to switch to brass for non-abrasives, and steel for material with abrasives?

Avinash

•

about 1 year ago

Main disadvantage on keeping the steel nozzle on extruder is that because of different thermal conductivity, you will need to adjust the temperatures when with steel nozzle. The temperature you set for the nozzle will be about 5 C degrees lower than you want on the printer, so you will either need to set different temperatures on slicer itself or tune on printer each print if sliced for brass. For example, printing PETG on brass, regular 230 degrees, but on steel, 235 degrees, adjust higher or lower as needed.

TechNerd

•

about 4 years ago

I've made a detailed guide on how to print Nylon with carbon fiber especially eSUN PA-CF on a stock Prusa MK3. Most things apply to other Nylon filaments as well. Maybe it's useful to someone. Here is the Link to my blogpost: https://www.schweinert.com/my-recipe-for-3d-printing-with-esun-pa-cf/

Jadry

•

about 4 years ago

What about Fiberlogy PA12+CF15 or NylonX? Are these informations apply to these filaments? For PA12+CF15 temperatures by Fiberlogy are 255-270 nozzle and 90-110 for bed. But what sheet should I use with it and is the release agent necessary? I have printed it on smooth but it is lifting. With glue is little bit better. I tried with textured and it is better than on the smooth but still little bit of lifting. And how that applies to satin sheet?I saw topics on forum but everyone has other setup.It will be great to add these two to your material guide

Official Prusa CS

•

about 4 years ago

Hi, we're unable to test all the materials available on the market, but we're doing what we can :)

kaisarantonn

•

almost 3 years ago

What about this?
https://us.polymaker.com/products/polymide-pa12-cf
Polymaker Polymide PA12-CF
what settings i should use?
and with CF we need to increase the temp 10 degrees above preset, i tried eSun PLA with generic pla preset but increase 10 degrees on hotend temp.
can I use Fiberology PA12-CF15 preset from prusaslicer? do i need to modify the preset hotend temp (increase 10 deg) too?

Giuliano - Official Prusa CS

•

almost 3 years ago

Hello. The Prusa Slicer doesn't have default settings for the Polymaker Plymide PA12-CF. You can select the Fiberology configuration, then compare the parameters with the ones suggested in the box of the filament and eventually adjust them accordingly.

LasseK

•

over 4 years ago

Question; What should one change in the ColorFabb XT-CF20 PrusaSlicer presets to make it work with the Kimya PETG Carbon filament.

Official Prusa CS

•

over 4 years ago

Hi, all you need to do is switch to the actual Kimya PETG Carbon profile. It is included in PrusaSlicer :)