Strength of different filaments

[gr5 2,267]

THERE IS A MUCH BETTER TOPIC ON MATERIALS PROPERTIES HERE NOW:

 

 

Filament Strength Tests

I did some strength tests of various filaments.  There were several surprises for me.  I did two tests: a "pull" test and a "bend" test.  Here is a picture of the two things I printed in 6 different materials:

Pull Test

Here is my pull test jig which is simple.  I held on the rope while standing on a scale.  I increased my weight on the rope slowly until the object broke reading the weight on the scale the whole time although a few materials stretched quite a bit before breaking.

Here some taulman bridge stretched to about 3X it's normal size with another undamaged sample hanging for comparison:

Sorted from strongest to weakest.  The part was two passes (.8mm shell) with no infill, no top, no bottom.  A loop 100mm long, 10mm high.

Bend Test

Here is my test rig for the bend test.  I used one undamaged part to help me measure the deflection.  I used a caliper for the deflection:

I filled the bucket with screws and measured the deflection with different weights.  I was very careful to position all the pieces identically over the edge and measure deflection at the same point.  The part is .8mm shell, 20% infill, .6 top/bottom thickness.  The cross section is 10mm by 10mm and the distance from edge of counter to weight was 100mm.  Distance to deflection measurement point was exactly 87mm.  Deflection graph - note that PLA was the strongest and carbon didn't seem to make any difference:

Breaking points (many materials don't break - they just bend and then go back when you remove the load):

Broken pieces:

Some notes:

The ABS broke in a surprising way - layer adhesion - and may have done better at higher temps.  I printed at 245C with 30% fan and in retrospect I should have done 0% fan for better layer adhesion.  But this shouldn't have affected the bend test - only the break test.

Carbon reinforced PLA from protopasta seems no stronger than regular PLA and no stiffer.  They claim it is stiffer but that didn't seem to be true.

The PLAs and PA6 bend pieces weighed 6 grams.  Taulman Bridge: 5 grams.  The ABS weighed 4 grams so factoring in weight, the ABS was the strongest on the pull test but still weaker on the other 2 tests.

Nylon is amazingly strong but the two types I tried (of 10 or so out there) were too flexible for purposes of say a stiff truss bridge.  But for many other purposes Nylon is much stronger.  e.g. the suspending cables in a suspension bridge.

Conclusion: PLA is awesome!

PROTO PASTA LOVERS - If you feel I did something in error with the proto pasta test please:

1) First do your own test.   Any test.  Try to make the test bring out the best in protopasta.

2) If carbon PLA beats out regular PLA, then let me know what I did wrong or how I should change the test

[j3d 0]

Looks like you had fun with this! Thanks for sharing. I had to laugh when I saw the Ninjaflex bend test result! I've not used ti before. Was it like testing a noodle?

 

[gr5 2,267]

Was it like testing a noodle?

 

It was very soft. Good for thin coverings (anti stick, anti vibration). I might use it to make a quad copter dampener thing:

The 4 black things here:

http://www.dsstyles.com/product/gopro-dji-phantom-anti-vibration-anti-jello-camera-mount-screw-tripod?src=gb_us&currency=USD&gclid=CjwKEAjwqamhBRDeyKKuuYztxwQSJAA1luvG6RUBEUOLccaFKqXUedFl-9-gyhu49N5tXjttudyoYBoCk67w_wcB

 

[Dim3nsioneer 558]

It might be interesting to do these tests with different PLA brands. Which one did you test?

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Hi GR0101 (now your famous we all know you read binary :-P )

 

I Like the simplicity of your setup, I tried a test before which is to much hassle for others to join.

http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/6117-diy-material-testing-machine/

 

Maybe we can standardise your bend/break test so anyone who feels like it can share his/her results here. If you share the test files & cura settings and maybe add a little bulge in the testpart design so we all clamp it at the same point.

 

I like to test at least the following;

 

Ultimaker PLA

colorfabb PLA/PHA

colorfabb XT

colorfabb XT Color

 

Think it would be good to print at a fixed speed, and something like 3 different printing temperatures per material. Maybe min/middle/max advised temperature of the supplier.

 

[DidierKlein 729]

Interesting stuff

I saw a video that could be usefull here too:

 

 

[nick-foley 5]

Awesome test, I was looking for some of this data last night for a part I'm trying to make. What brand PLA were you using?

 

[0l1 0]

Hello George,

this is a great idea doing simple tests to compare different filament strengths!

Are your files available somewhere?

Maybe the community can think of building up a database with result data?

Did the pull test specimens break in the hook area?

It probably would be beneficial to strengthen this area, more like classical tension test specimens, to get repeatable results.

 

[gr5 2,267]

I've seen that video before. I liked his pull test with the bucket but the other tests, I didn't think they were relevant to real life strength needs (e.g. quadcopter design). It was still a great video to watch and informative. But one can read my data much faster on a web page than in a video. Videos are very slow to refer back to later. Where's the table again? What's the summary?

I'll post my models now...

 

[gr5 2,267]

I put my part on youmagine here:

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/strength-tests

Included is a diagram showing exactly where to position the bend test part and where to measure.

The metal hooks were indeed wider than the pull test parts but the materials fully conformed within 1/10 of the breaking force. Probably within 1/100 of the breaking force. Realize that *all* of these parts needed more than 5 gallons of water to break (originally I had a 5 gallon bucket and filled it slowly with water but this was not enough even after adding some bricks to the bucket). The hooks may have increased stress where touching but they also offerred some friction and relief at the top (the top of the loop didn't have as much tension on it because of friction).

 

[pm_dude 27]

Consider doing the bend test in hot water too. It could be good to see the difference.

I have dishwasher parts (replacement wheels for the bottom rack) to make for a friend and they keep on deforming big time. I used XT so far (PLA was too soft)

 

[zumfab 3]

This is great, I was actually planning to open a thread like this about the actual technical and mechanical properties of prints. One of my main questions is how print direction influences strength and how that in turn differs from injection molded pieces. Did you test anything related to that?

Printing little trinkets is nice, but when you really want to build things with printed parts you quickly find that useful information is pretty scarce.

 

[gr5 2,267]

Well I learned that I can make my quadcopter arms as thin as a pencil and they will be much stronger than needed! I also learned that PLA is better than Nylon for the arms although I want to make the landing feet from nylon because they bend better (less brittle).

 

[Dim3nsioneer 558]

@gr5: Nick and me are still hoping to get the PLA brand...

 

[gr5 2,267]

I think I posted it on youmagine but it was "ultimaker gold". I posted print settings and stl files and the exact location for position and measurement for the bend test.

 

[ultiarjan 1,223]

**************

BEND MEASUREMENTS (zoom in on diagram picture - the center picture with the checkerboard pattern under the part) should be made with the red line in diagram over the edge of a table or counter (use sharp edge table) and the blue arrow indicates where to measure vertical deflection

**************

maybe I'm stupid ... but I don't see the pic with red line / blue arrow ....

 

[gr5 2,267]

In the icons, youmagine only shows the center of the picture. When you click on photo arrows over to the "checkboard" photo you can see the red line and blue arrow.

 

[gr5 2,267]

Here is the exact picture - you have to click on it to see all of it - youmagine bug!

 

[gr5 2,267]

Damn - youmagine is buggy! In Chrome there is no way to see the red/blue markings. I just uploaded a new version of the diagram with tons of whitespace above and below to make youmagine happier about the aspect ratio.

 

[Dim3nsioneer 558]

I think I posted it on youmagine but it was "ultimaker gold". I posted print settings and stl files and the exact location for position and measurement for the bend test.

 

Sorry, I didn't check it there. In most cases I want to access a site on Youmagine I get an error message (from the Youmagine server, not from my browser...) So I usually don't even try Youmagine-Links anymore... but thanks for the information!

 

[zumfab 3]

Well I learned that I can make my quadcopter arms as thin as a pencil and they will be much stronger than needed! I also learned that PLA is better than Nylon for the arms although I want to make the landing feet from nylon because they bend better (less brittle).

 

Is this post related to my earlier post?

 

Sorry, I didn't check it there. In most cases I want to access a site on Youmagine I get an error message (from the Youmagine server, not from my browser...) So I usually don't even try Youmagine-Links anymore... but thanks for the information!

 

Youmagine invariably works here, so you might want to double check things on your side.

 

[charles-design 0]

This is awesome, I had no idea PLA would win.

Thanks for sharing!

I've always though the materials strength to be about the layer adhesion more then the properties of the materials itself.

 

[ultiarjan 1,223]

keep in mind you don't want to use PLA for stuff you expose to the sun or other heat, it will deform easily ... I once made a car phone holder out of PLA.... It did not survive the first sunny day ...

 

[solid-print-3d 30]

DO Polycarbonate! and HIPS! Please

 

[gr5 2,267]

When I get new materials (some day) I will test them. I'd love to do PET. Very disappointing in the protopasta.

I have put PLA on something outdoors in the sun and it has lasted 15 months now (over a year) so it's not the sunlight - it's the temperature.