Composite materials

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.

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.

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.

RC drone frame	Turbine
Turboprop