ULTEM 9085

Has anyone tried printing with ULTEM?

I know stratasys sells ULTEM filament and I would really like to print with it. But I don't know the printing temperature for it is.

Ideas?

Injection molders use a nozzle temp of 330-350C, which gives you a starting point for experimentation. So you're going to need an all-metal hot end with a thermocouple. The MSDS suggests it decomposes above 300C and that the fumes may be pretty toxic, so an enclosed machine and filtered exhaust are recommended. Also, you probably need to heat the chamber to close to the glass transition point which is 186C. The stratasys machines that print this stuff have been described as having an oven for a print chamber.

Also, I have no idea where to get it in filament form, and it costs a fortune even in sheet or rod form.

Quote
Andrew Smith
Injection molders use a nozzle temp of 330-350C, which gives you a starting point for experimentation. So you're going to need an all-metal hot end with a thermocouple. The MSDS suggests it decomposes above 300C and that the fumes may be pretty toxic, so an enclosed machine and filtered exhaust are recommended. Also, you probably need to heat the chamber to close to the glass transition point which is 186C. The stratasys machines that print this stuff have been described as having an oven for a print chamber.

Also, I have no idea where to get it in filament form, and it costs a fortune even in sheet or rod form.

Ouch! 186ºC!!! That would melt all my ABS/PLA parts and besides that would ruin the ball bearings and linear bearings I'm currently using in my printer! Sounds like quite the challenge though

Some materials just aren't worth it to try working with I guess? It sounds like injection molding is a way more 'ready' technique to work with this Ultem 9085 material.

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http://www.marinusdebeer.nl/

Well, Stratasys itself sells ULTEM in filament form with a diameter of 1.75 I believe. It is incredibly expensive.

As far as their specs they actually say that special venting isn't needed.

[www.stratasys.com]


Mind explaining glass transition point to a newbie? So if the filament is melted, but it hits room temperature it may immediately freeze again? Which would destroy the extruder?

Thanks for your input!

I was discounting Stratasys as a source because of the cost. Also I was under the impression that their machines take much smaller filament than ours do.

As for the venting, all that means is you don't need any venting on top of any exhaust processing done by the Fortus. I don't know that theres a problem, but its something to look into.

The glass transition point is the temperature where the plastic goes from solid to a rubbery phase. We have to keep the model below that point, but if it gets too cold you get massive warping forces as each new layer contracts on top of the previous layer. This is why ABS needs a heated bed to reduce warping, even if it sticks to the bed at lower temperatures it will warp later, as the internal stresses distort it. With Ultem's Tg being so high, it will have a huge tendancy to warp unless the model is held at high temperature throughout the print.