Radicaldude1234
Well-Known Member
A play on the derisive term "black aluminum" mentality of using composites...
So I'm toying around printing carbon infused nylon and I have to say that this stuff is pretty impressive. It has 20% carbon fiber by weight, can be printed easily without a heated chamber...without warping, and is fantastically stiff. You can trade some of the stiffness for toughness by submerging the parts in hot water for a couple hours, or print with one of the more moisture resistant blends. All the while having a heat deflection temperature of around 215°C.
Some of the newer blends developed in the last couple years have a strength to weight ratio approaching aluminum (somewhat verified by material testing on Youtube), though at pretty high prices ($200/kg). The blend I'm playing around with has about 60% of the strength, but at $80/kg.
So I was thinking possible homebuilt applications with this stuff? Since the mechanical and thermal properties vastly exceed that of foam, my original thought was to print odd shaped composite sandwich cores with this stuff. Things like wingtips and fairings and part of a composite layup. After seeing this how well this stuff prints, I'd argue that the material is tough enough to for non-structural parts and is serviceable after a light sanding and paint.
Since 3D printing allows for enclosed hollow spaces, the core as part of a composite sandwich can be printed as a honeycomb with solid surfaces where the plastic is adhered to the fabric layup. The only downside I can see is that epoxy does not stick well to nylon, though there might be enough carbon fiber/fiberglass fibers to adhere to. There are specialized glues that will bond the two together, but adds a bit complexity to the workflow.
Was thinking what else you guys can think up in terms of application?
PS: I'm currently playing around with the Polymaker Fiberon series. The highest strength consumer filament is currently Bambulab's PPA-CF.
So I'm toying around printing carbon infused nylon and I have to say that this stuff is pretty impressive. It has 20% carbon fiber by weight, can be printed easily without a heated chamber...without warping, and is fantastically stiff. You can trade some of the stiffness for toughness by submerging the parts in hot water for a couple hours, or print with one of the more moisture resistant blends. All the while having a heat deflection temperature of around 215°C.
Some of the newer blends developed in the last couple years have a strength to weight ratio approaching aluminum (somewhat verified by material testing on Youtube), though at pretty high prices ($200/kg). The blend I'm playing around with has about 60% of the strength, but at $80/kg.
So I was thinking possible homebuilt applications with this stuff? Since the mechanical and thermal properties vastly exceed that of foam, my original thought was to print odd shaped composite sandwich cores with this stuff. Things like wingtips and fairings and part of a composite layup. After seeing this how well this stuff prints, I'd argue that the material is tough enough to for non-structural parts and is serviceable after a light sanding and paint.
Since 3D printing allows for enclosed hollow spaces, the core as part of a composite sandwich can be printed as a honeycomb with solid surfaces where the plastic is adhered to the fabric layup. The only downside I can see is that epoxy does not stick well to nylon, though there might be enough carbon fiber/fiberglass fibers to adhere to. There are specialized glues that will bond the two together, but adds a bit complexity to the workflow.
Was thinking what else you guys can think up in terms of application?
PS: I'm currently playing around with the Polymaker Fiberon series. The highest strength consumer filament is currently Bambulab's PPA-CF.
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