Polymaker FAQ

About Polymaker Materials

Overview of Material Options

Here at Polymaker, we currently offer dozens of material types under three different product families.

Polymaker Prime Materials includes a range of functional materials, such as strong PLA, ABS/ASA, TPU, and PETG.

The Panchroma™ product family features a wide array of amazing aesthetic colors and cool effects.

Fiberon™ is our line of fiber-reinforced engineering materials.

Each of these materials offers its own benefits, use cases, and limitations.

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What are the Differences Between Each Material Type?

To start with, PLA is the most common FDM 3D printing material. It is easy to print, affordable, and suitable for use cases such as toys and prototyping. However, PLA has lower heat resistance and standard PLA can break easily. PLA Pro and PolyMax PLA are excellent PLA options that offer added impact resistance.

ABS and ASA provide increased heat and impact resistance compared to standard PLA. ABS is the material used to make LEGOs, and you can think of ASA as similar to ABS but with added UV resistance.

PETG is your go-to material for chemical resistance. It is also easy to print and has a slightly higher heat resistance than standard PLA.

TPU is a flexible material, and each of our TPU options has a Shore hardness rating, with lower numbers indicating softer materials.

Polycarbonate is a highly heat-resistant material, and we offer some PC options with unique applications. However, all polycarbonate materials can be challenging to print without a heated chamber printer.

Nylon is a great material when you need strength, but keep in mind that it is hygroscopic, meaning it can easily absorb moisture.

What is Panchroma™?

Panchroma™ is our new product family, offering dozens of amazing color effects. The majority of these options are standard PLA, although more exotic options are on the way.

This means that if you want anything from basic matte black PLA to sparkly PLA, and everything in between, Panchroma™ is the way to go.

All Panchroma™ PLA products will print on any printer without additional requirements, except for the glow-in-the-dark and luminous options. These options are slightly more abrasive than standard PLA and require an abrasion-resistant nozzle.

What is Fiberon™?

Fiberon™ is our new product family of engineering fiber-reinforced 3D printing materials. We offer strong filaments reinforced with carbon fiber and glass fiber.

Currently, every Fiberon™ material option can print without the need for an enclosure, which is uncommon for high-temperature resistant nylons. The only current exception is our PETG-ESD, which is not abrasive.

However, every other Fiberon™ material is reinforced with abrasive components, so it is essential to print Fiberon materials only with an abrasion-resistant nozzle.

Please note that the number after CF or GF in Fiberon™ material names indicates the content by weight. For example, PPS-CF10 contains 10% carbon fiber by weight.

Fiberon™ materials offer excellent performance with the best printability and cost-to-performance ratio on the market

Ultra Performance vs High Performance vs General Engineering Fiberon™ Materials.

We classify a Fiberon™ Material as Ultra Performance if it exceeds other material options on the market today in terms of engineering performance.

For example, we launched Fiberon™ with our PPS-CF10, the ultimate rigid and heat-resistant material currently available. After annealing, PPS-CF yields a material with an impressive heat deflection temperature of 250°C, far higher than nearly any other material on the market.

Interestingly, PPS-CF doesn't require an enclosure but does need a hotend capable of reaching slightly above 300°C, which is not standard on FDM 3D printing machines. Ensure your printer's nozzle can achieve at least 310°C before purchasing PPS-CF104.

High Performance materials are suitable for most engineering applications, cost-effective, and compatible with the majority of 3D printers, provided they have an abrasion-resistant nozzle. Fiberon™ PET-CF17 is a phenomenal all-around engineering material that is rigid, heat-resistant, and strong, suitable for many applications5.

We also offer various carbon fiber and glass fiber nylon options with properties to suit different needs. Keep in mind that nylon-based materials (those starting with PA) are hygroscopic, so we recommend using a filament dryer when printing them.

General Engineering Fiberon™ materials are excellent for basic engineering applications that don't require exceptional strength or heat resistance. They are relatively inexpensive and easy to print, requiring only a hardened nozzle if they contain abrasive reinforcement

Do You Have a Printer Profile for My Printer?

Unfortunately, if we do not have a profile listed on our Printer Profiles page, we do not currently offer one. We have recently added many A1 profiles to our products under those print settings tabs, although not all of our material options are covered at this time.

It is challenging for us to provide specific profiles for every slicer/printer/material combination. However, we have a dedicated community of thousands of Discord members who have created a wide range of profiles. It may be worth checking out our Discord community to see if someone has already created the profile you need.

Get Detailed Further Help

If you have a question that our "Start Here" page or Filament Guide page can't answer, don't worry—we have several options to help. One of the best options is our intelligent AI chatbot. While AI might have a significant impact in the future, for now, we can leverage its intelligence and speed to our advantage.

You can ask this bot anything about Polymaker filaments, and it will likely find the answer. If it can't, we will train it to do so in the future. If you have a project with specific requirements, just ask the bot for its suggestions. This chatbot is located at the bottom right of any page on our site.

The bot cannot assist with order or shipping issues, but it can likely help with your material-related questions. If it can't assist, feel free to ask it to connect you with an agent, leave your email address, and one of our representatives will reach out either immediately or within one business day.

Additionally, we recommend checking out our Materials app for detailed material properties. You can also visit our "Contact Us" page to contact us directly.

Other Common Questions

Do You Offer Filament Swatches or Samples?

We regret to inform you that we do not currently offer filament swatches or sample spools of individual materials. We are working on creating swatches this year and plan to add more sample options, but we do not have a specific ETA for these at the moment.

However, we do offer sample boxes. If you are planning to purchase bulk quantities, please let us know your expected order quantity by emailing us at [e-mail].

Are There Any Food Safe Materials?

Unfortunately, we do not have any data regarding whether a material is food-safe. As of now, no 3D printing material on the market is FDA food-safe compliant. This is because to be certified as food-safe, the actual object needs to be certified, not just the base material. The shape, bed used, environment in which the object was made, and many other factors contribute to obtaining a food safety certificate. Currently, there is no specific certification that the FDA offers for 3D printing.

Moreover, even if the material itself is food-safe, the printing process will likely cause the object to no longer be food-safe. This is due to the layers that 3D printing creates and the extrusion process. The gaps between layers can allow bacteria to build up, making it nearly impossible to clean perfectly. As a result, the object may be food-safe for one use, but getting it perfectly cleaned for reuse is not an easy task due to these small gaps between layers.

Can you offer 1KG Fiberon Spool Options?

Unfortunately we are not offering 1KG Fiberon™ options and this has to do with the increased chance of carbon fiber and glass fiber filament snapping on the spool. Since carbon fiber and glass fiber filament is more brittle, we spool these with a larger core. This larger core means that 1KG of filament will not fit on a 1KG spool.

Do You Offer Sponsorships or Donations?

Yes, we do! Please email us at [e-mail] and include the following information:

• Your donation or sponsorship request

• A brief description of your project, channel, or organization. Any additional details are helpful.

• Links to your website, social media accounts, or any other platforms where your prints may be shared.

• The amount of material you need to complete your project. If this is an ongoing sponsorship, please estimate how many spools you would require per month.

• Any other relevant information that can help us determine if partnering with Polymaker is a good fit.

Please note that we do not offer sponsorships or donations for projects that involve selling the filament you receive or selling the prints made with the material.

Do You Sell Refillable Spool Options?

We do not currently offer refillable spool options, although it is something we are exploring for the future.

Do You Offer Custom Spools or Unique Spool Sizes?

Yes, we have the capability to create custom spools in any material, color, diameter, and spool size. However, we do have a minimum order quantity (MOQ) of 250 units for this service.

If you are interested, please email us at [e-mail] and include all relevant details in your request.

What is the Shelf Life of Your Material?

The shelf life of our materials is 3 years if the spool has remained unopened at room temperature, with no sunlight and controlled humidity environment (30-40%).

If opened and put back in the resealable bag at room temperature, no sunlight and controlled humidity environment (30-40%), then we would say 2 years shelf life.

Less Common Questions

Do You Have any Information on VOC or Harmful Toxic Fumes for Printing Your Material?

As of right now we are doing our best to collect data on the industry as a whole since there is very limited information in this regard. Our current recommendation is to have good ventilation no matter what material you are printing with - even with PLA. This means our recommendation for all materials would be the same - always print in a well ventilated area and it is not generally recommended to be in the same room as the material being printed.

We have no data or reason to believe any material is overtly toxic requiring any PPE, though we will always say that you will want to print in a well ventilated area regardless.

What Chemical Resistant Material Options Do You Have?

If you are looking for amazing chemical resistance, I can recommend a few options:

PolyLite™ PETG - A very inexpensive and easy material to print. The biggest issue is that it is not very mechanically strong - so I would not recommend it for any application having loads or being impacted.

PolyMax™ PETG: Similar to PolyLite PETG - but with added mechanical strengths

Overall PEG is chemically resistant to most chemicals but less resistant to strong acids. We then have:

Fiberon™ PPS-CF10: Exceptional chemical resistance and heat resistance - but it does require a hotend that can reach 310C-350C.

What Material Do You Suggest for Cold Temperatures?

As of right now we do not have a ton of data for low temperature. We do know that PolyMax™ PC will work well in low temperature, it is just our tests were at -30C. You can find this information in our TDS for PolyMax PC - showing it still maintains good impact strength.

We then know that ASA can perform well in -10 - -20C temperature ranges - but again, we do not have any data in temperatures below that.

If you have any other unique requirements - please reach out to us at [e-mail]

Is it Possible to Recycle 3D Printed Plastic?

We are sorry to say but we unfortunately do not know of a great recycling option for 3D printed plastic at this time. This is certainly something we have been investigating just we do not have a great solution at this time.