ColorFabb Releases new Carbon Fiber Composite 3D Printing Filament
ColorFabb never stops surprising us with its innovations. Since the Dutch filament producer declared its collaboration with Eastman Chemicals (the plastics giant) and its list of unique polymers, a great number of new products appeared on the market, with those issued from XT copolymers being on the list. ColorFabb considers the latest one to be the most progressive and it is their first filament based on the Amphora 3D polymer and reinforced with 20% specially sourced carbon fibers.
Adding carbon fiber into 3D printing filament is not an innovation; the new XT-CF20 by ColorFabb reveals some of its up-to-date properties, like the maximal high flex modulus of 6.2 GPa, making it twice as rigid as PLA, but still easy to utilize.
The material is reported to have been tested on 8 printers, including Replicator 2X, an Ultimaker 2, A Delta Tower, a Leapfrog Creatr and others, for six weeks. Not a single nozzle jam or any other related issues occurred. The only matter to take into consideration is the corrosive nature of carbon fibers that will hasten the nozzle-wear of brass nozzles much faster in comparison with unfilled filaments. So it’s advisable to use nozzles of coarse copper alloys or stainless steel.
There is also a small strain at break – 8-10% – making it not a very fragile filament, yet rugged. Glass transition temperature is rather high – 80C – so its melt strength is high and it possesses melt viscosity. One of its advantages is low odor while extruding, as it is styrene free, like all products of XT family. And it also gives high dimensional stability and precision. A mate dark covering is eye-pleasing.
Due to all the characteristics mentioned above – dimensional stability, stiffness, heat resistance and functionality – XT-CF20 can become perfect for producing RC vehicles and drones, having some applications for the prototyping, aerospace and automotive industries. To demonstrate this ColorFabb used their XT-CF20 to produce each component of the open RC Truggy from Thingiverse. And we should admit it’s excellent.
Very soon you will be able to do quite the same. You can pre-order the filament through ColorFabb online store. They are expecting to ship the first orders no later than the end of February. It’s going to be a lot of fun, start getting ready! You may also be interested in our 3D printing filament tool that can help you to find and compare 3d printing filament prices from different sellers.