Conductivity

[mgawel 0]

Hello,

 

Is there any material on ultimaker which can withold 500V?

 

Thanks

[GregValiant 695]

From HERE...

"PLA falls in the category of non-conduct filaments because it has a resistivity in the order of 1016 Ωm, similar to most other plastic types, making it a great electrical insulation material as long as it is in a solid state (cold). Once heated, PLA will soften and become more conductive and no longer safe to use as an insulation material."

I would think much depends on the thickness of the part, the distance between the conductors you are insulating each other from, and the amount of current that is flowing.  The above snippet would seem to imply that if the conductors heat up (due to high current flow or simple ambient temperature) then the PLA can deform and allow the conductors to get closer to each other.

Any current passing through a plastic insulator can (in time) cause a carbon trace to develop.  When that happens the resitivity drops dramatically as the carbon is conductive.