rue_d_etropal Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 My son is a chemist, just fiished his degree at Imperial, so he is pretty good. I showed him my 3D printed models and told him it was nylon, and he asked what type? Just wondering does anyone know, especially as nylon is now available for home printers. It had not occured to me that there where different types, chemically. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpoorObjecten Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Are you referring to White Strong & Flexible at Shapeways? This is PA2200 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarryscapes Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Are you referring to White Strong & Flexible at Shapeways? This is PA2200 Which makes it Nylon 12. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
black5f Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Sorry, I'm going to sound nerdy! Plastics (polymers) are interesting things, but there are lots, and even more blends. You have to choose one that is suitable for both the production process and durable in the end application. Small factors like being wettable, ie paintable might be major deciders, it may need priming for adhesive? Nylon absorbs water, 6 and 66 a lot which can change dimensions (2%) so it's not really suited to 3d printing. It absorbs a lot of things so you can get Nylon 66 impregnated with lubricants for example which is great for bearings. Nylon 12 is much less, like 0.5% or something. I think the process is sintering so melting temp and viscosity and temp range as liquid is important. You need it to be UV and ozone resistant if it's not going to get brittle with age (like that garden chair that suddenly snaps)? Abs for example is pretty good at flex cracking, ie, flex a lot, doesn't break, polycarb isn't and in the presence of solvents is terrible. Poly carb is cheap and factories (East of here) will routinely blend 20% polycarb with abs in production which you can only tell with a FTIR. Which is why you shouldn't put stickers on your motor cycle helmets. Sorry to be so nerdy. Hope your son enjoys and gets a good job, he will understand a lot more about this than me. I just fix shoes. T Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rue_d_etropal Posted July 26, 2016 Author Share Posted July 26, 2016 I only asked the question because I was curious. What I do know is that the nylon Shapeways use does work very well for what I use it for. It paints very easily, it can be glued to wood, paper and cardboard easily, but not so easily to other plastics. It does seem to self lubrucate in the mechanisms I have. This is good enough, it is those who want 3D printing to do other things that results in problems. I telll people to treat the WSF more like cardboard than plastic, then there are no problems. Every material has its good and less good points. Only when you work that out can you use the material in the best way. It would be interesting to compare the nylon in WSF with that being offered for home use. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbedford Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Sorry, I'm going to sound nerdy! Plastics (polymers) are interesting things, but there are lots, and even more blends. Yes, but only a few are available in powder form that have been found to be suitable for the SLS process. And even fewer are produced in large enough quantities to make printing with them at all economic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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