As the price-point and capability of prosumer and professional-grade machines improve, the democratization of manufacturing has enabled small and medium-sized businesses to localise their supply chain, reduce MOQ's and rapidly innovate without extensive lead-times. As the technology has become more accessible, so has the requirement for new cutting-edge materials.
Carbon and glass-fiber reinforced filaments have seen a growing demand with some businesses using them exclusively for their production or prototyping. Composite 3D printing filaments can be a gimmick or offer significant benefit, depending on their formulation and intended purpose. Carbon-fibers whether chopper or milled can hide the layer lines of 3D prints, so for many customers the composite filaments may be chosen for purely aesthetic purposes (despite potential trade-off of brittleness and poor layer bonding). When correctly paired with a matrix material, composite filaments can offer significant improvements for engineering applications, improving stiffness, tensile strength, heat deflection temperature and dimensional stability. In some cases inter-layer adhesion can even be improved via the introduction of fibers but as the saying goes, not all filament is created equal.
First announced at Rapid TCT 2024, we are thrilled to announce Fiberon, a new industrial product line of composite filaments coming to Australia in 2024.
What is Fiberon?
Developed and manufactured by Polymaker; Fiberon is a new product range focused on developing cutting-edge composite filaments with both high performance and excellent printability. Manufactured in 1.75mm filament diameter and backed by extensive technical data, the Fiberon portfolio spans ulta performance, high performance, general engineering and specialized composite 3D printing filaments to suit a wide range of customer needs.
With Polymakers ever expanding portfolio of materials for functional or aesthetic application, the new Fiberon portfolio helps streamline product discovery for engineering and production customers looking for stiff carbon-fiber materials with properties such as durability, heat resistance, flame retardance, chemical resistance, ESD-safety or low-moisture sensitivity. To launch this new product line, Polymaker have announced three brand new composite 3D printing materials; PPS-CF10, PET-CF17 and PETG-rCF08. These products are expected to launch in Australia late Q3 / early Q4.
Fiberon PPS-CF10 (NEW)
- An ultra-performance filament with heat deflection temperature over 250°C (@0.45Mpa)
- Metal like stiffness
- Chemical resistance to a wide range of acids, alkalines, fuels and solvents.
- Naturally flame retardant (can meet UL94 V0 standard)
- PPS-CF is dimensionally stable, insensitive to moisture and compatible with or without a print enclosure, displaying unrivalled cost/performance properties on the market.
Fiberon PET-CF17 (NEW)
- Tuned for high-speed composite prototyping with superior surface texture and stiffness.
- PET-CF17, delivers strength, low shrinkage, dimensional accuracy without moisture sensitivity concerns.
- Heat deflection temperature up to 148°C (@0.45Mpa) to suit a wide range of practical applications.
- Combining the best of strength, speed, and surface finish into one highly compatible composite filament.
Fiberon PETG-rCF08 (NEW)
- Entry-level composite filament featuring recycled carbon fibers billed as the PLA of engineering materials.
- PETG-rCF08 utilizes carbon fibers from end-of-life wind turbine blades, these fibers are certified to the Global Recycled Standard by TÜV Rheinland.
- Inheriting the printability and performance of PETG, while gaining enhanced stiffness from the carbon fiber reinforcement.
- Print high-speed, moisture-insensitive, and low-creep prototypes with exceptional dimensional accuracy. PETG-rCF08 strikes the perfect balance between affordability and functionality, empowering users to quickly create durable, accurate prototypes.
These materials join our existing composite filaments (PA6-GF25, PA6CF20, PA612-CF15, PA12-CF10 and PETG-ESD), providing industrial-grade composite performance for desktop 3D printing.
Fiberon PA6-GF25
(Currently available as PolyMide PA6-GF)
- Reinforced with 25% glass fiber, PA6-GF25 delivers outstanding durability and the best cost-performance ratio for fiber-reinforced nylon filament.
- Reinforced to deliver excellent thermal and mechanical properties without sacrificing layer adhesion or printability.
- Heat deflection temperature up to 191°C (@0.45Mpa) to suit a wide range of practical applications.
- Excellent dimensional stability during printing thanks to Warp-Free™️ technology, compatible with a wide-range of 3D printers, including open-frame designs.
Fiberon PA6-CF20
(Currently available as PolyMide PA612-CF)
- Based on a copolymer of Nylon 6 and Nylon 12; best all-rounder to combine the outstanding mechanical properties and price point of Nylon 6, with low moisture sensitivity of Nylon 12.
- Reinforced to deliver excellent thermal and mechanical properties without sacrificing layer adhesion or printability.
- Heat deflection temperature up to 175°C (@0.45Mpa) to suit a wide range of practical applications.
- Excellent dimensional stability during printing thanks to Warp-Free™️ technology, compatible with a wide-range of 3D printers, including open-frame designs.
- Lower moisture sensitivity makes it an ideal and cost-effective alternative to Fiberon™ PA12-C10 for parts which may be subject to high humidity.
Fiberon PA12-CF10
(Currently available as PolyMide PA12-CF)
- Extremely low moisture sensititivty compared to other Nylon filaments (Polyamides), delivering the most predictable mechanical properties within real world application (wet vs dry state). Similar to Markforged Onyx®.
- Reinforced to deliver excellent thermal and mechanical properties without sacrificing layer adhesion or printability.
- Heat deflection temperature up to 131°C (@0.45Mpa) to suit a wide range of practical applications.
- Excellent dimensional stability during printing thanks to Warp-Free™️ technology, compatible with a wide-range of 3D printers, including open-frame designs.
- Low moisture sensitivity means the smallest shift in characterists from dry to wet states; best suited for research, prototyping or manufacturing applications requiring a a nylon filament which could be exposed to humidity or water.
Fiberon PETG-ESD
(Currently available as PolyMax PETG-ESD)
- Compounded with carbon nanotubes to deliver ESD-safe material for manufacturing and electronics industry.
- Toughness enhanced to improve impact strength and durability.
- Heat deflection temperature up to 76°C (@0.45Mpa) to suit a wide range of practical applications.
- High fluidity for high speed 3D printing application.
- This Industrial PETG ESD filament is ideal for uses such as housings, casings, jigs and fixtures where toughness and electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection is required.
When will Fiberon be available in Australia?
Fiberon PPS-CF10, PET-CF17 and PETG-rCF08 are brand new filaments that will begin manufacture in late July. Based on current lead times, Australian stock for these three filaments are expected to arrive late Q3 / early Q4 2024.
Fiberon PA6-GF25, PA6-CF20, PA612-CF15, PA12-CF10 and PETG-ESD are already in-stock and available to purchase under the previous product name (PolyMide / PolyMax). Manufacture of these products under the new Fiberon brand will begin later in Q3 and during Q4 2024 packaging of these products will start to slowly transition within the AU market.
Fiberon FAQ
Q: Have the Fiberon materials had a formula change?
A: The Fiberon materials are the same formula as before, you will however notice differences in the recommendations listed on the packaging, differences in recommended annealing times and differences in technical data. We will explain why in the following questions and answers.
Q: Why are the available printing speeds much higher on the Fiberon packaging compared to the previous packaging?
A: Until the advancement of vibration cancellation in desktop 3D printers, high printing speeds didn't result in quality 3d printed parts. PolyMax PETG-ESD and PolyMide filaments were released before the "high speed printer" revolution and so the recommendations were set based on the common printers available at the time. As high speed capable printers have become more prominent in the market it made more sense for Fiberon packaging to list the recommended speeds for modern printers.
Q: Why have the annealing recommendations changed for Polymakers Nylon filaments?
A: The latest recommendation to achieve the best mechanical properties is for users to anneal nylon reinforced parts at 100°C for 16 hours, this is a significant change when compared to the previous recommendation of annealing at 80˚C for 6 hours. Annealing Nylon is a fairly complicated process where polymer chains align and arrange from amorphous structures into tightly packed semi-crystalline regions. The perfect annealing time and temperature depends on the geometry and part size. With so many parts and geometries possible with 3D printing, Polymaker have always opted to provide simplified instructions that aid customers in achieving high performance across a wide range of models without requiring complex hardware. Since the release of Polymakers first nylon filament in 2018, continued internal testing and customer feedback has helped to inform the best recommendation that suits most users and product recommendations have changed over the years. The printing process itself results in partial crystallization but the process can only be completed by annealing the finished print. The crystallinity of the model before annealing could vary depending on layer time, extrusion temperature and printing speed used during the printing process. With a significant increase in both recommended annealing time and temperature, It is possible the new annealing instructions are set based on the expectations that customers will be printing at faster speeds.
Q: Why is the PolyMide dry state technical data different to the Fiberon technical data? (Part 1)
A: There are a few reasons behind this. Firstly the annealing process is different for Fiberon TDS 1.0 compared to PolyMide TDS 5.2. For Fiberon TDS the samples were annealed at 100˚C for 16 hours whereas the PolyMide TDS 5.2 samples were annealed at 80˚C for 6 hours. Different annealing processes will result in different crystallization within the part, a process which greatly change the thermal and mechanical properties of Nylon. Secondly, Polymaker has improved their standards of sample production. Many hardware and slicer choices significantly impact the printing process (nozzle wear, extruder tension, gcode generation), and as a result the latest technical data sheets use stricter quality control, like using a new nozzle for every test, to ensure consistency in the hardware used. This results in a set of more consistent data. The old data isn't necessarily wrong, simply put the new data has better consistency by eliminating the influence of many hardware factors; important for customers who will compare data sheets of different materials. Comparing PolyMide PA6-CF TDS 5.2 and Fiberon PA6-CF TDS 1.0 has changes similar to what you would see when comparing PolyLite ABS TDS 5.2 and PolyLite ABS TDS 5.3.
Q: Why is the Fiberon PA6-CF and PA6-GF wet state data considerably worse than the PolyMide PA6-CF and PA6-GF moisture conditioned data? (Part 2)
A: Wet state and moisture conditioned state are not comparable and represent different things. As nylon absorbs water or moisture, it becomes more flexible, impact resistant and loses rigidity and tensile strength. How much moisture the nylon can hold depends on if it is only exposed to high humidity, or if it is submerged or sprayed with water. With exposure to 70% relative humidity, PA6 will absorb around 2.5 - 3.5% moisture content after 45 days, meanwhile if the same part is submerged in water it could hold 5 - 9% moisture content after a couple of days. For PolyMide data sheets the PA6-CF and PA6-GF materials were only tested in the dry and moisture conditioned state with moisture conditioning data being tested after 15 days of exposure to 70% relative humidity. The published moisture conditioned data was useful for customers to predict how the properties of nylon will change in a regular application as the nylon part climatizes, however didn't help users predict the loss of mechanical strength if PA6-CF was exposed to rain or submerged in water. PA612-CF and PA12-CF filaments are less moisture sensitive, because these materials are promoted for their high mechanical properties after exposure to water, Polymaker did test and publish wet data for those two material as opposed to moisture conditioned data. In summary some products on the previous PolyMide TDS showed moisture conditioning data, some showed wet data. Data was clearly labelled but perhaps wasn't best for customers wanting to make direct comparisons between the two. Ultimately testing wet state is a better simulation for real world applications where parts may be exposed to rain or water and so for the Fiberon technical data sheets, all nylon data was tested under dry and wet state.
Q: Are all Fiberon filaments manufactured with cardboard spools?
A: All Fiberon filaments are manufactured with updated cardboard spool design with a sealed coated edge. Although we have many high volume customers running cardboard without issue in the AMS, this edge can benefit users who may have trouble printing with AMS. Please note that other Polymaker spools (1kg / 750g) will be transitioning to this new design as well.