What is Carbon Fiber Nylon Filament and Should You 3D Print It - Pt. 1

Carbon Fiber Nylon aka CF Nylon. What is it? Think Zip-ties -- polyamide is almost everywhere you look. “Nylons” worn by women and bandits, velcro, zip-ties, ropes, nuts bolts & washers, circuit board hardware, and a ton of places you never knew it was. It’s been around for years!

Carbon-fiber Nylon in 3D printing uses the same, awesome material -- with chopped carbon fibers embedded throughout. This adds to the rigidity of the material - all the tiny carbon fibers create stiffness, and also make the part slightly lighter. It also increases dimensional accuracy -- because the fibers hold the polymer in place, less shifting and warping occurs at the edges and stress points. Regarding dimensional accuracy -- thanks to the fibers holding the polymer in place, less curling and warping occurs at the edges and stress points within the part. This also makes it much easier to print, especially if you don’t have a heated chamber. This also makes it much easier to print, especially if you don’t have a heated chamber. There are also continuous fiber-filled nylons with even more strength but these require special printers. Suited for structural parts, functional prototypes, and custom end-use production parts. Often we see continuous fiber from Markforged, or their Onyx material, which is a carbon-fiber nylon blend, just like ours -- except, we have data showing the 3DXTech brand is significantly stronger than the Markforged -- not only that but much cheaper -- the only difference is, you’ll have to print it yourself (and it will look just as good).

Most common printers can print it -- Prusa i3’s, higher-end Flashforges, Ultimakers, even Ender 3’s. You basically need a printer that will do 120 on the bed, and 260 on the nozzle. A heated chamber will help a LOT with bigger parts but isn’t required. Next -- it’s super Strong - some blends at 25% carbon fill are literally comparable to aluminum -- they’re calling it black aluminum. The addition of carbon fiber increases the modulus significantly - Blends from Markforged have strength to weight ratios higher than 6061-T6 aluminum, in some cases
And it’s about 24 times stronger and 27 times stiffer than ABS. CF Nylon also has a great matte-black finish, kind of looks metallic from the reflections of carbon, and really hides the layer lines -- meaning you can print faster, with bigger layers, and you will still have a really good-looking part. This means more production, more parts, in less time! Lastly, this stuff works great with no support material, using itself as the support, or using soluble supports like PVA, Aquasys 120, or other materials coming out on the market now.

Anyway, that’s why we love carbon-fiber nylon -- do you? Let us know in the comments what your favorite part about CFNylon is, or if you’ve got any questions!

At Vision Miner, we specialize in Functional 3D printing, especially high-performance plastics like PEEK, ULTEM, PPSU, PPS, CFPA, and more. If you're interested in using functional 3D printing and materials in your business, feel free to reach out, and we can help you make the right choice for your application.

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[MichaelJHathaway]

Few things you forgot to mention. CF PA ("Nylon" is a DuPont brand name), is manufactured using different types of polyamides and different percentages. Most CF PA is created using a high percentage of PA 12 which is lower melting temperature and easier to print. However it is also has considerably less strength, hence why your levers were easier to bend. The higher temperature CF PA is manufactured with PA6. PA 6 is much harder to print, requires higher temperatures at the nozzle, higher bed temperatures, and higher temperatures in the enclosed cabinets. But it is much stronger. There are other higher temperature CF PA products which contain percentages of Ultem, Peek and Pekk in order to increase strength and heat deflection. Yes the addition of composite to PA lowers its tendency to shrink, warp and peel off your print bed. Some filament manufactures, such as Proto Pasta, add drywall dust to their filament as a composite.

You must use a hardened nozzle while printing abrasive filaments, such as carbon fiber. Most of the temperature guidelines are based upon an Olsson ruby nozzle and not hardened steel. If you use a steel nozzle, I have found that you need to add 10-15 degrees higher at the nozzle. The reason is that the Olsson nozzle is made from brass or copper and conducts heat much better than the steel. You can print these filaments with many of the regular printers, but you will have less layer adhesion than you would with a printer that can print +300C. Adding a ruby nozzle to some of the regular printers will increase your chances of a complete melt and layer adhesion.

Fan cooling is normally not used when printing PA. However, when printing small areas on a large part, intermediate spot cooling may keep the PA from becoming too hot and drooping. I use exterior fans and vaned concentrators for this.

Dehydration of PA is required. PA 12 is hygroscopic (tendency to absorb moisture from the air) and the usual listed time to dehydrate these filaments will apply. However PA 6 has twice the ability to absorb moisture and requires much longer to dehydrate. Metal aerated filaments spools, such as those sold by Vision Miner, are required. This is because the 80-90C heat to dehydrate PA 6 will melt plastic spools. I dehydrate at these temperatures for 48-72 hours depending on the type of PA and how it was stored in a particular climate.

Lastly, thank you for your video, I am an engineer and manufacture who specializes in plastics. I am also a customer of yours. I 3D print exclusively in polyamides, approximately 2-5Kg of PA6 a week. I manufacture 10, 000 Kg of raw polyamides annually.

[iviaverick]

"I'm talking about the common material that can be used in more common printers (continues to list of printers costing thousands of dollars)
*Me*: Looks over at my Ender 3. "Ah yes, my professional workstation".

[ManuelHefti]

You should send a sample over to CNC Kitchen. He's always producing great videos about material properties. But quite frankly, I'm wondering if his DIY material test machine can handle that stuff 🤔

[darendecesare]

250 nozzle 60 bed no fan works perfect on creality cr 6.

[vellcet]

Would love to see a heated chamber vs. no heated chamber comparison of the same printer & part in CF nylon.

[darknoiseghost]

I really like the direction your videos have evolved into. Very informative and professional.

[princefpv]

we actually use it for our top plates on our 3D printed drones at 100% infill

[Greg_ThymeTraveler]

I print with Markforged Onxy material at work, on their printer, and I have to admit that I love printing with that material at 100% infill. At 100% infill, it feels as dense as a block of solid wood. I've broken one too many metal tools and blades trying to clean supports off of printed models so if his claims are true about it being stronger than Onxy, that material must be a beast.

[d-obsession]

I printed multiple parts in matter hackers CF nylon on my mini prusa. It prints really well. 255/100 temps. I printed in an enclosure I built myself.

[AstrobumTV]

I still wonder WHY it's flexible in the spool while it hardens after being heated.
Any material science expert here willing to explain about the composition structure before and after it's being heated?
Anyone?

[patrickoneil]

I’ve found that starting the bed at 90c initial and then bringing it down to 35c for the majority of the print keeps it from warping off the plate. Guess it depends on how much cf is in your nylon. Printed a little pla and then when straight to printing cf nylon, been going great once I figured out spray adhesive works really well in keeping the print on your bed. This is all at an ambient temperature of about 72degrees f

[eedesign]

I have had great mechanical very miniscule scale parts done with Markforged Onyx Chopped CF.

[DracoItaliano]

Hello, here's a message from the future, haha. I've just acquired a Bambulab X1C with the goal of printing in nylon-CF based on what you've mentioned, but I really have no idea what I can print.

[princefpv]

my favorite for cf nylon. Priced far as well we have it in our shop 2

[jcn]

Are there any hazards with the handling of the parts or filament, i.e. carbon fiber filaments sticking into the skin or getting airborne and breathing it in?

[janmichaelyourvincents]

I want to make speakers out for this stuff possibly, its a thinker

[bldjln]

I didn't know you could overdry nylon; really interesting

[bobbydigital]

You have inspired me to dabble with with this material after I do some upgrades to my e3v2. I am still a freshy to 3d printing though

[SenseiTimMinke]

I'm a small business owner and I have a 3D printer that runs the this pretty well. My curiosity is what advantage would carbon fiber polycarbonate have over the nylon

[meusana]

Bought a Mega zero 2.0 with 2kg of CF nylon included. Hence my presence here XD Sticking around regardless.

Great content.