What Material to Use... 🤔

3D Printing Materials
1

I had a phone call yesterday, which has left me stumped and I figured it might be a good question to ask on here.

We have a customer who is looking for a material that is going to be submerged into water for it’s lifespan, but also be exposed to calcium while submerged in the water as well. This customer is okay if the submerged items do break down overtime, as he could just be able to replicate them again with a printer, however I am stumped as to what material would be the best for this.

Anyone have any ideas?

2

Maybe recycled PET ( pop bottles) as they are surrounded by liquid for their life. Just a thought, I have no information as back up.

3

hmm interesting thought.
although I’m no materials expert - that does make sense.
thanks for your input!

4

PET is complicated to get by times.

Polypropylene (PP) would work well, it is a pain to print. Ultrafuse

PETg is hydroscopic but is still rated as water resistant. Salt is super corrosive but it is electrically related I am not sure salt would matter. So maybe?

ASA would be my first choice personally, reasonable to print, not really expensive and good resistance to many chemicals and environments. I have had it as a bearing in a very alkaline solution PH12. It has been in use for 16 months or so.

I would suspect no 3d print will last for really long times but years for sure.

5

What I would try would be TPU. Ninjatek Armadillo TPU to be specific. I don’t know how it compares to above mentioned materials, but it is a tough material that is supposed to be pretty chemical resistant.

6

I would say something like Co-Polyester/CPE would work well for this. Heck ABS if you can get it to print without warping is fairly water resistant.

7

I’m a little late to the party but linked below is a great article relating to chemical resistance for 3d printed plastics.
I think your best bet is to go with PETG as it’s economical and ubiquitous.

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