What Filament Will Wear Down the Least?
Short version: What filament will hold up best when unglazed ceramic pieces rub against it?
More details: I work with clay and am making decorative tiles. They're glazed on the front, but not on the sides or back, so those surfaces are just clay, which is not smooth. If you've seen a bathroom tile in the stores or handled one, the front is smooth because it's glazed, but the sides and back are rough because they are not glazed. I'm making frames for hanging my decorative tiles on the walls and also for display when I can sell them at craft shows. The problem is that after a dozen or so times of putting a clay tile in a frame in PLA and removing it, the clay will wear down the plastic. (I know there's really no way to avoid this - it's what happens when a harder, stronger, and rough surface rubs against plastic.)
What print filaments would hold up best to this kind of wear and tear?
RE: What Filament Will Wear Down the Least?
TPU/TPE filaments are known to be abrasion resistant. Because of your end-case, maybe use one of the harder TPU filaments? If the tiles are all the same size, you could model the TPU frames to be similar fit as a flexible phone case, and they could help protect your tiles from (minor) drops.
See my (limited) designs on:
Printables - https://www.printables.com/@Sembazuru
Thingiverse - https://www.thingiverse.com/Sembazuru/designs
RE:
Tangent: I used to dabble in geology as a novice rock hound. Unglazed tiles are an important tool for identifying minerals. When an unknown mineral is scratched against an unglazed tile it will leave a characteristic color behind, often quite different from the mineral's color. With the amazing creativity of geologists around the world, this test is known as the "scratch test". 😆
See my (limited) designs on:
Printables - https://www.printables.com/@Sembazuru
Thingiverse - https://www.thingiverse.com/Sembazuru/designs
RE: What Filament Will Wear Down the Least?
@tango
I agree with sembazuru TPU is one of your best bets, it tends to have among the highest abrasion resistances, certainly they are not all created equal. The filament I have found to be the best out of the hundreds I have experience with is Ninja Armadillo, Armadillo Link I have extensive experience with this filament and is extremely, (and I do mean Extremely) abrasion resistant). It's unfortunately being discontinued, however is still available and most likely will be available for the coming months based on stock. It's discontinuation is based on the tariffs by the "Dick Tater" Trump. However you can look at it's properties and get an idea for other Filaments if your not interested in looking at one that might not be available in a year or two. The Ninja Amarillo filament is quite impressive. It prints like PLA with the toughness of Nylon, very much like hardhat material. I own many rolls and frankly hope something happens to change the state of its availability, I've relied on it's properties for many years.
Regards
RE: What Filament Will Wear Down the Least?
I bought a spool of TPU from Amazon - had delays and they shipped the wrong color, but it's testing, and I just want to see how well this works.
A few questions:
1) The TPU version takes something 4-5 times longer to print than the PLA. I have read that TPU takes longer to print for multiple reasons, such as jamming and so on. Are there ways to safely speed up printing TPU?
2) Any thoughts on a 2nd most abrasion resistant filament might be? The long print time is an issue and I might have to work out a trade-off between print time and resistance to abrasion. (I've seen charts for a lot of filament comparisons, but didn't find one for this - but I may have used poor search terms for it.)
RE:
TPU prints slow because it must be fed into the extruder very slowly - if you try pressing more in, it just folds up and jams the gear works. This will happen even when printing slow ... so expect issues: and patience with it is a virtue.
TPU is not something that is generally thought of as abrasive. The most abrasive filament, or right near the top, is glow in the dark filament. They have a mineral in them - the glow part - that is very hard and very abrasive. It even takes out some of the hardened nozzles - tungsten carbide is best with it. A single small print with glow filament will ruin a standard brass nozzle, and probably eat away all of the fine channels in a CHT design over several small prints. Then again, just realized I misread the question.
Filament most resistant to things like sandpaper ... I've never personally had a need and never looked into it.
RE: What Filament Will Wear Down the Least?
I’ve been printing for sometime Fillamentum Nylon AF80 aramid. It contains aramid (kevlar) fibers and it’s extremely resistant to wear and abrasion, better than TPU in this aspect. As with all nylon filaments, printing it is a bit tricky, but then TPU isn’t that easy either.
AF80 aramid is quite expensive but, if cost is no problem, and you want a long lasting print that endures very well high temperatures, UV, abrasion and most chemical products this is one to consider.
Drawbacks are the usual with nylon fiber filaments : it has to be dried VERY well, or you’ll run into trouble. It needs a hardened nozzle and an enclosure is almost compulsory. Also, if you want a wide choice of colors this one isn’t for you, because it comes only in natural color ( sort of yellowish ivory ).
RE: What Filament Will Wear Down the Least?
Elsewhere are threads on dyeing nylon parts ... if yellowish ivory isn't suitable.
RE: What Filament Will Wear Down the Least?
1) Find another filament. I'm reading that nylon and actel might be good choices, but probably not the only ones. I haven't yet looked into their pricing or special needs or if I can print them without buying new nozzles or if they can be used on a stock Mk3.5.
Elsewhere are threads on dyeing nylon parts ... if yellowish ivory isn't suitable.
That's not a major deal at this point, just a frustration. This was one of many (MANY!) times I've ordered from Amazon and picked a particular brand or style because it had "delivery tomorrow," and then, the next day, I check when it's supposed to arrive and it's delayed to another day. I was thinking maybe they didn't have the color I asked for and that delayed it and they just shipped what they had.