Glass Fiber Filament: 5 Things To Know

Below you will find 5 useful for choosing correctly your glass fiber polymer

1 But Joe can make me this part in “insert dumb filament”

 

Do you really want your part to be made in a subpar polymer? What if it breaks, or worse melts, and you are at square zero, and have to remake it again, having to deal all over again with another 3d printing service? 

In business, we all know that time is the most valuable resource.  We focus on doing it once, getting it right from the start.

2 Not all Glass Fibers are made equal

 

Getting the right length of the fibers, the right diameter, the right distance between them in the polymer blend are the real challenges, and final product performance will be impacted by the quality of the fibers

3 As per fibers, also polymer blend matters

 

ASA, PA, PPS, TPU, even if they belong to the “plastics family”, they have different properties. In a nutshell:

ASA-GF / ABS-GF for overall best cost/sthreght ratio.

TPU-GF for a part than requires elasticity or dampening properties.

PPS-GF is the chemical resistant king. Oils, petroleum products, bases, acids. You name it.

PA-GF the ultimate solution for strong, load-bearing parts.

 

4 Do only material properties matter?

 

Imagine leading a nascar team, and challenged with the task of assigning a driver for your racecar. 

You can choose to put at the wheel a student driver, or a prize-winning pilot. Who will get most out of the car?

Experience matters when deciding 3d printing parameters. Our production engineers are dedicated just to this. 

They analyze your part and choose the most suited parameters to give you the stiffest part.

 

5 Can you use the same 3d printing polymers across different applications?

 

Will a shotgun perform like a rifle? No.

Every tool has a situation where it will perform the best.

Same goes for 3d printing polymers. Some will excel is certain applications: change the application, and a different polymer will be more suited. This is why you need the expertise of a polymer engineer, that can recommend you the best glass fiber polymer for your application.

 

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