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Filament manufacturers: add plain language description of material characteristics

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Posted · Filament manufacturers: add plain language description of material characteristics

For people who do not have a mechanical engineering background, technical specifications such as hardness, tensile modulus, impact strength, etc..., are very hard to read. These numbers have no meaning because they don't relate to real-world materials for non-engineers.


So, it would be good if all manufacturers could add a description *in plain language* of how the material feels, and how strong and flexible it is. This can best be done by comparing it to very well known standard materials like PLA, ABS (Lego bricks), PET (Coca-Cola plastic drink bottles), LDPE (lids of food boxes), PP (fridge boxes), car tires, rubber bands, human flesh, etc...


A dummy example:


Material ABC-123:

- feels a bit waxy, similar to PP (polypropylene, fridge boxes)

- glossy look, similar to PET (Coca Cola plastic drink bottles)

- impact strength similar to ABS (Lego bricks, Playmobil)

- flexibility similar to PP

- good layer bonding similar to PLA and PET

- low warping similar to PLA

- mechanical post-processing: similar to ABS

- glueing: cyano-acrylate, hotgun, most plastic glues

- chemical post-processing: dissolved by strong solvents (e.g. acetone, thinners)

- can easily be painted

- chemical stability: can withstand mild acids and bases, is dissolved by solvents

- heat resistance similar to ABS, starts to deform from 110°C, melts around 150°C, really liquid at 200°C

- printing recommendations: nozzle 180...200°C, bed 80°C, speed 40mm/s, travel speed 120mm/s, fan 50%, layer height 0.1mm, good bonding to glass bed with product XYZ-456.

- [then a couple of pictures of the filament, and of printed models, in an office environment]


All this could go in the general description, so that we can estimate at a glance if the material might be suitable for us, without having to open all attachments with detailed specs. The pictures should be taken in an office environment, surrounded by common office stuff, so we can easier compare it to the real world. (Studio-lighting, althoug beautiful, often does deform the appearance and it makes it difficult to really interprete the pictures.)


Could you consider this?


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