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We are actually in the midst of updating the Ultimaker technical datasheets, so I can help you out a bit with your question.
Ultimaker Nylon is a PA6/66 copolymer, like Polymaker's CoPA (also PA6/66). Colorfabb PA neat is mostly PA6 as far as I know.
What does that mean for you in terms of mechanical properties?
Stiffness:
Typically PA6/66 is a flexible yet very strong and tough Nylon, with a tensile modulus of about 2300 MPa and flexural modulus of 1900 MPa. The same applies for Ultimaker Nylon as well as Polymaker's CoPA.
Strength:
Tensile strength is very high for such materials, typically 60 MPa with yields of about 6%. Also, this nylon will typically elongate up to 120% before it breaks (so double it's length).
Flexural strength is also rather high at 80 MPa.
PA6 (e.g. Colorfabb) is stiffer compared to PA6/66, typically a modulus of about 3000 MPa. Strengths are slightly higher as PA6/66, but it basically doesn't yield but it breaks instead of extending - so it depends a bit on your application.
As a side-note, numbers that I just give for Ultimaker Nylon are actually measured on 3D printed parts. Filament suppliers typically just use injection molding values - which are ideal cases. Expect only 80~90% of the reported properties of such TDS (at least in our experience).
Thank you. Your answer is what I was looking for. I had been indecisive about several materials, but I am going use UM's nylon. One thing I have noticed is that I'm more likely to run into situations where the hobbed gear chews out a bit of the filament and the filament quits moving. It's usually preceded by the material failing to unload from the hot end at the end of the print. This results in the next print not starting properly because the nylon doesn't extrude. The prints where the material fails to unload are fine. I think what is happening is that the nylon is getting slightly stuck in the hot end because it is cooling too much at the end of the print and this causes the hobbed gear to chew up the filament. I clear it up by following the steps on the display, but not really. I let the hot end heat up and then the nylon retracts just fine. I lie to the printer by not actually removing any of the tubing. This is on an S5 with a Material Station. Any ideas?
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Cura 5.7 is here and it brings a handy new workflow improvement when using Thingiverse and Cura together, as well as additional capabilities for Method series printers, and a powerful way of sharing print settings using new printer-agnostic project files! Read on to find out about all of these improvements and more.
S-Line Firmware 8.3.0 was released Nov. 20th on the "Latest" firmware branch.
(Sorry, was out of office when this released)
This update is for...
All UltiMaker S series
New features
Temperature status. During print preparation, the temperatures of the print cores and build plate will be shown on the display. This gives a better indication of the progress and remaining wait time. Save log files in paused state. It is now possible to save the printer's log files to USB if the currently active print job is paused. Previously, the Dump logs to USB option was only enabled if the printer was in idle state. Confirm print removal via Digital Factory. If the printer is connected to the Digital Factory, it is now possible to confirm the removal of a previous print job via the Digital Factory interface. This is useful in situations where the build plate is clear, but the operator forgot to select Confirm removal on the printer’s display. Visit this page for more information about this feature.
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TimonR 21
Hi @dcschooley,
We are actually in the midst of updating the Ultimaker technical datasheets, so I can help you out a bit with your question.
Ultimaker Nylon is a PA6/66 copolymer, like Polymaker's CoPA (also PA6/66). Colorfabb PA neat is mostly PA6 as far as I know.
What does that mean for you in terms of mechanical properties?
Stiffness:
Typically PA6/66 is a flexible yet very strong and tough Nylon, with a tensile modulus of about 2300 MPa and flexural modulus of 1900 MPa. The same applies for Ultimaker Nylon as well as Polymaker's CoPA.
Strength:
Tensile strength is very high for such materials, typically 60 MPa with yields of about 6%. Also, this nylon will typically elongate up to 120% before it breaks (so double it's length).
Flexural strength is also rather high at 80 MPa.
PA6 (e.g. Colorfabb) is stiffer compared to PA6/66, typically a modulus of about 3000 MPa. Strengths are slightly higher as PA6/66, but it basically doesn't yield but it breaks instead of extending - so it depends a bit on your application.
As a side-note, numbers that I just give for Ultimaker Nylon are actually measured on 3D printed parts. Filament suppliers typically just use injection molding values - which are ideal cases. Expect only 80~90% of the reported properties of such TDS (at least in our experience).
Hope this helps!
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dcschooley 9
Thank you. Your answer is what I was looking for. I had been indecisive about several materials, but I am going use UM's nylon. One thing I have noticed is that I'm more likely to run into situations where the hobbed gear chews out a bit of the filament and the filament quits moving. It's usually preceded by the material failing to unload from the hot end at the end of the print. This results in the next print not starting properly because the nylon doesn't extrude. The prints where the material fails to unload are fine. I think what is happening is that the nylon is getting slightly stuck in the hot end because it is cooling too much at the end of the print and this causes the hobbed gear to chew up the filament. I clear it up by following the steps on the display, but not really. I let the hot end heat up and then the nylon retracts just fine. I lie to the printer by not actually removing any of the tubing. This is on an S5 with a Material Station. Any ideas?
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