Hey guys! Tim here from Core Electronics and today I'm going to talk about my new tutorial for the 3D printing filament from Ultimaker.

There's a huge range of 3D printing materials that Ultimaker officially produces and supports and it is important when you're designing your own particular component, that you have some foresight and you figure out exactly what kind of properties you want that final component to be. Ultimaker produces 11 different kinds of filament that are officially supported, and they are the ones that we're going to go through today, if you are interested in a particular filament material then they will be time stamped as we go along.

So each print has its own purpose be it strength, flexibility, chemical resistance, protection against electrostatic discharge, flame retardant qualities, aesthetics or processing speed just to name a few and the value gained by taking the time to pause and consider your material choice is gigantic. If we jump over here you'll be able to see my Ultimaker 3D printer material guide and this is on our Core Electronics website, so as you can see here's a list of all the different types of material that Ultimaker produces. It is also worth noting that Ultimaker allows different third-party materials to be used on their machines, anything that has a diameter of 2.85mm or even 3mm will work so long as you take the time to sort out the settings of your own particular machine. However one of the best things and things that makes Ultimaker stand out as a company is that it's reliable, so you'll be able to plug and play and change only a couple of settings, if you use one of these official materials, the other materials will work but it's more experimental you have to take time to actually figure out the exact details.

If you jump over here you'll be able to see the material comparison chart which I've set up, which will talk about some of the most crucial properties in relation to 3D printing applications for each of the specific Ultimaker 3mm filaments. So of all these properties probably the most important to most people is the kind of colours that are available so, that takes the number one spot in the column, so we've got colours, we got tensile stress and breaking the elongation at break and impact resistance, some of these are more complicated values and at the bottom of this there'll be definitions so we can go through and truly understand what all these kind of properties mean melting temperature and glass transition point. Melting temperature has to do more with how hot the nozzle needs to be, whereas glass transition point has to do with more of its operating temperature, so if it has a high glass transition point it will be able to work in high temperature environments. Melt mass, flow-rate that has to do with how quickly you can print a product, the higher that is the faster you'll be able to print and we also very importantly is whether it's a biodegradable material  and whether it's insoluble to water.

Jumping into it, properties and purposes of the Ultimaker materials and as you can see I have quite a bunch before me and some of them are wrapped up in plastic and some of them aren’t. It's important to realize that a lot of these materials are hydroscopic and if you want them to function well over a long time it's important that you keep them in an enclosed environment, one where air can't easily access them. Other materials right in front of me, I have 2 PLAs, PLA is slightly water absorbent but much less than other materials, so this kind of material can hang around and it will still function as well as it was day one pulling it out the packet. Let's talk about PLA so PLA is one of the oldest materials used in 3D printing, it's ideal for prototyping, like the prototyping of 3D models which have a pleasing surface finish, it allows for a higher resolution, it gives a glossy finish and can be printed at low temperatures, so these are the kind of properties that make made it so accessible back in the day to be used as a 3D printing filament, over time PLA will lose its mechanical properties so it's worth noting that you won't be able to produce components that last for years. It will become more frail as a component, also glass transition temperatures of PLA are quite low so PLA is best used for low temperature applications but if it's less than 60 degrees Celsius it will work fine.

There are many colours available for PLA, jumping back over here the next tier is tough PLA. This is something that Ultimaker produces as well as another as some other companies and tough PLA shares the same properties as PLA except it's more sturdy, more resilient to impact resistance and just stronger in general and it's perfect for producing prototypes that are on a larger scale and also ones that need a slightly higher mechanical property. So it's worth noting PLA as well as tough PLA you can put in an oven after you print and if you get the temperature just right, the material will become basically is as strong as plastic injection moulding and this is one of the best things about PLA you can produce such high quality final prototypes, just using a couple of after processing steps, also it comes in lots of different colours.

Now ABS is another one of those giants and it is the most common type of filament and it was used all the way back in the day and we're talking like 2011 when 3D printing became more consumer focused and you were able to have your own machine in your own work shelf and actually have it function and produce really great parts, so what do you think your ABS think of Lego blocks because that's what Lego is made out of. It's quite sturdy but if you dock it really hard and it's thin walled then it will break it's also quite prone to warping, so when you print a big component if you have too thick walls or if it's just a large component then as it's coming along you might find your 3D printed component will be more warped, also ABS reacts with acetone in a way which allows you to glue different components together just by putting a little dab of acetone, talking about nail polish, just by dabbing a little bit acetone you'll be able to stick different components together and it's also worth noting you can achieve very glossy surface finishes by doing just that.

Many colours are available in ABS, it also releases toxic fumes when you produce components with it, so it's important that you take the time to either have some kind of exhaust system or just be in a well ventilated area. Nylon synthetic-polymer, it's one of the more established, more recent materials used in 3D printing. Components for printing tools, functional prototypes and final parts so all that would be able to be made from nylon. Nylon has strength high, impact resistance and flexibility however it has a low glass transition point, so it won't be good for outdoors or in the Sun for long periods of time or any kind of high-temperature applications. It also has a strong corrosion resistance for both alkaline and organic chemicals but worth noting nylon is extremely hydroscopic, so you've got to keep it enclosed and use desiccants.

CPA or copolymers, so copolymers a highly regarded for use of mechanical applications. It is one of the more tough, functional, dimensionally stable and chemically in the plastics available in the market and you can produce such good prototypes, basically final components using this. One of the good points about it is when melted is odorless and emits very few ultrafine particles at very few volatile organic compounds. Furthermore it offers a great dimensional stability thus designs your print will be of a high accuracy of the original digital model, many colours are available including transparent and CPE has a great adhesion to PVA and breakaway, that means you can produce models using a dual extruder, we wouldn't be able to produce using a single extruder because you are able to put supports in places which you just wouldn't be able to normally. We'll talk more about PVA and breakaway coming up.

CPE is a copolymer as well, but it is perfect for an extremely rugged and for producing dimensionally stable, functional prototypes. CPE+ is better than CPE mainly because of its temperature, the resistance and higher impact resistance. It is worthwhile employing build plate adhesion sheets to ensure a strong connection with the build plate, that's because CPE+ likes to connect to itself but doesn't like to connect to other things like glass, so just to make sure that your prints are reliable every time, that's what I’d recommend you do. It has low levels of UFPs and VOCs much like CPE and it also has a larger range of colours including grayscale which gives you that professional look, that nice model at the end of it all.

Ultimaker PC, polycarbonate is the perfect material to print moulds, tools, tooling and functional prototypes, even you could run short-term manufacturing cycles. This is because the material property of PC are very strong and tough and it also retains its dimensional stability, when undergoing temperatures as high as a 110 degrees C. So this model would be fantastic in high temperature scenarios, it's important to get strong connection between the layers and to do that you have to enclose the case that it's been 3D printed in, the PC filament is also incredibly hydroscopic so you have to make sure that you're not leaving the film out in the air and you're using desiccants.

A material which is completely different than the other materials we've been talking about before, thermoplastic polyurethane this is TPU95A, think of flexible rubber this kind of material you could print in association with PLA or maybe CPE and you could actually create shock systems. This plastic will bend a whole bunch whereas the PLA will be much more sturdy, able to withstand naturally high impacts without deforming or breaking but it doesn't work very well in UV light so you'll need to keep your final component inside. It doesn't work very well with high temperatures either.

Polypropylene is an immensely popular material worldwide with engineers and manufacturers and it's a great material to produce lightweight parts with a high strength to weight ratio and produce smooth surface finishes. PP has exceptional fatigue resistance so it's pretty good for use as a prototyping material for making bearings things that have high rub and it's also has good temperature, chemical and electrical resistance. Whilst also being able to be recycled which is very important, hydroscopic as well so you got to keep it enclosed.

Ultimaker PVA polyvinyl alcohol, it isn't typically used for the final component print but it is the perfect choice as a removable support structure and this is because PVA is water soluble, once you've printed your final component we'll have all of these removable support structures and these removable support structures will be dissolved when you dunk it into water. So it means you can produce like large overhangs an intricate internal geometries and by using warm water and regular stirring you'll be able to quickly dissolve this PVA and produce components that you would just not be able to produce any other way. Also, worth noting PVA is immensely hydroscopic, so you also have to keep it enclosed.

Ultimaker breakaway also known as BAM is another material which isn't typically used for final 3D printed parts because of its fragility and weaker properties but it is an excellent choice for removable support structures, unlike PVA it isn’t water dissolvable, you would use it in scenarios where that doesn't really matter so much or if the plastic component your using is also water-soluble that way you wouldn't be able to dunk it in water. It also offers a much longer shelf life than PVA and it's less hydroscopic, also worth noting on material compatibility I would recommend viewing my Ultimaker dual extrusion 3D printing guide, this talks more about how different plastics and materials can work well with each other and which ones don't work so well with each other.

So going back over here there's a number of definitions that I've talked about, so if anything you haven't run into before you'll be able to figure out very elegantly over here and there's also technical data sheets and safety data sheets for those who want exactly specific details on each of these particular components this was my guide on the Ultimaker 3D printing materials, I hope it's been useful, I haven't confused any of you, here's a whole bunch of them and I hope you have a really good day!