ThermaX™ PEI, Made Using ULTEM™ 9085, High-Temperature 3D Printing Filament from 3DXTech

ThermaX PEI Filament made with ULTEM 9085 is really just ULTEM 9085 from SABIC, also known as Polyetherimide, an ultra-performance filament known for its low smoke toxicity, high flame and heat resistance, and fantastic strength at elevated temperatures. This ULTEM 9085 makes it a great material in industries like medical, electronic, and manufacturing, due to it’s extreme strength, FST ratings, and relative ease of printing.

0:00 - Intro
- What Industries Use This Material
- What Temps You Need to Print This
- Material Specifications
- Environmental Factors
- Example Parts
- Break Tests
- Burn Tests
- End

Ultem 9085’s high strength-to-weight ratio mixed with decent chemical and UV stability makes it perfect for metal-replacement in automotive, aerospace, and other industrial sectors.
Ultem 9085 has been configured into customized lightweight tools, prototypes, and housing parts. Formula SAE used Ultem 9085 parts for exhaust & intake manifolds, as well as brackets and electronic components. NASA and other space agencies often use 9085 due to it’s low-outgassing and low-temperature performance -- low-temp being -60C.
Commercial Airlines also use 9085 for interior parts like table trays, overhead bins, and walls -- again due to the UL94 V-0 Flammability rating and low-offgassing properties. If you’re trapped in a burning plane, it’s one of the best materials to have around, as it will hardly burn and will self-extinguish. Demonstration of that in a few moments!

WHAT KIND OF MACHINE DO YOU NEED TO PRINT THIS FILAMENT?

Print Temperature: 350 - 380°C
Bed Temperature: 140 - 160°C - for adhesive, our Nano Polymer Adhesive works great!
Chamber Temperature: 90-180ºC -- Really important for big parts because this stuff loves to WARP!

Drying: yes, you MUST dry this filament. Like almost every thermoplastic, this does need to be dried thoroughly before processing, which is the fancy word for melting.

BASIC MATERIAL SPECS:
For Tensile strength, you get around 54 MPa on the ISO 527 standard, not to be confused with the 2200MPa on the ASTM D638 standard, but keep in mind the way your part is designed and the orientation at which it’s printed will have a dramatic effect on strength. You’ll lose a certain percentage in the z-axis, depending how the part is printed.

Heat Deflect Temp:
XY ORIENTATION 175 °C
XZ ORIENTATION 175 °C
ZX ORIENTATION 165 °
TG: 186°C
Melt Point: 280-310C
Annealable: Yes
Annealing gives parts additional strength, however time spent mastering Ultem 9085 can yield parts with passable strength without annealing.
ThermaX PEI with 9085 is an amorphous substance.

Resistance to gamma and UV radiation makes Ultem 9085 a quality material for both repeated outdoor exposure along with sterilization and cleaning techniques.
Hydrolytic Resistance: Ultem 9085 parts do not absorb water after printing, so it can be used underwater or in wet environments.
Ultem 9085 received a 100% success rate in tests for Autoclave, Gamma Radiation, and three other sterility tests performed by Stratasys to evaluate sterilization capacity of material.
Chemicals
Ultem 9085 provides resistance in a wide range of chemicals like automotive fluids (think gasoline and hydrocarbons), alcohol solutions, along with water, weak bases, gasolines, windshield washer fluid, and moderate exposures to strong bases, weak acids, greases, motor oil, antifreeze, and more.
This material is an insulator, with a Stable dielectric constant of 2.97 - 3.04 and dissipation factor of 0.004, over a wide range of temperatures and frequencies

ULTEM 9085 meets MIL Standard 810g for Fungal resistance in extreme environments
9085 also has the UL94 V-0 FST Rating, making it super popular with aerospace applications.
Low smoke generation makes this fantastic for any high-temperature application, especially around flames.
It can be sterilized in the standard methods, from Autoclave to ETo Gas, Hydrogen Peroxide Gas Plasma, Gamma Radiation, and more.

Check out our other videos for the full comparisons!

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.

Follow Us

[free_spirit]

Stop tempting me with these awesome materials I can't afford! Why do I even torture myself watching these videos?

[ZhuJo]

On that vase it clearly shows 90 °C chamber doesn't cut it for good layer adhesion. As a Tg of Ultem 9085 is about 180 °C, having chamber at that temp or at least 150 °C certainly helps…

[linuxinstalled]

This is some cool stuff. Thanks for sharing about a material that isn't so common for hobbyists!

[casen]

Notice when he put it near the fume extractor, it did not help the material catch on fire. More oxygen would have been fed to the flame helping it catch on fire. Very impressive.

[TheMidnightSmith]

I really like this series of videos! Could you maybe use cut resistant gloves when breaking with fingers? All it takes is the wrong break and pressure, and you got stitches in a finger. Maybe tongs for the burn test too. Safety first!

[GigaVids]

how do you guys only have 11k subs it doesn't make sense you guys put out high quality videos

[NotAJiveTurkey]

Fantastically useful and thorough in depth description of high tech and super strong filament's. Great channel.

[woodywiest]

I'd put this stuff on my spacecraft!

[daniilbash]

Please do review of PP-CF!
Love your channel ♥️

[efboiz]

Would this or PA12+CF be more suitable for an inlet manifold?