Compare 3D Printing Materials

ABS-Like Black is a durable material for general purpose prototyping. Its deep black color and glossy, cosmetic up-facing surfaces offer the appearance of a molded part. Part sidewalls and down-facing surfaces will have a matte finish. The material has good dimensional stability and moisture resistance.

ABS-Like Gray is a widely used, all-purpose material that provides flexibility relative to other SLA resins. It is an ideal stereolithography material for durability and heat tolerance. Parts built with ABS-Like Gray will have a look and feel similar to an injection-molded part.

ABS-Like MicroFine™ material is available in opaque green and gray natural colors. This ABS-like material has been custom formulated by DSM for micro-resolution stereolithography and is capable of producing features as small as 0.0025 in. (0.0635mm).

ABS-Like Translucent/Clear offers a unique combination of low moisture absorption and near-colorless transparency. Custom finishing is required to achieve functional clarity. Its tensile strength and elongation at break are among the highest of 3D-printed, thermoset material.

ABS-Like White is a widely used, all-purpose material that provides flexibility relative to other SLA resins. It is an ideal stereolithography material for durability. Compared to the average value for injection-molded ABS, it will have a slightly higher tensile strength but lower elongation at break. ABS-Like White’s heat deflection is the lowest of all SLA materials.

Carbon EPX 86FR is a flame-retardant resin that offers functional toughness, high strength, and long-term stability. It works well in a variety of applications that require UL 94 V-0 or FAR 25.853(a) ratings.

Carbon FPU 50 exhibits the highest elongation of any of the 3D printing thermoset resins at 200% making it the most flexible option. Available in black, it falls under the PP-like category of 3D printing resins.

This material is a ceramic-filled composite offering an extremely high stiffness of around 10 GPa and an HDT above 536 F (280 C). Typical applications of this material are in short-run tooling and molding.

Ceramic-Like White (Advanced High Temp) combines superior high heat tolerance with strength and stiffness. A thermal post-cure can be used to further improve mechanical properties and its heat resistance, however, it will be more brittle.

This material is a flame-retardant resin that achieves a UL-94 rating of V-0 at 0.031 in. (0.8mm) while maintaining good print accuracy with fine feature parts.

This 25% mineral-filled nylon offers the highest stiffness among Protolabs’ selective laser sintering materials. It’s an excellent choice when stiffness and high temperature resistance are the most important requirements.

PA 11 Black provides excellent ductility and temperature resistance without sacrificing tensile strength. It offers one of the highest elongation break thresholds in the nylon family.

PA 12 40% Glass-Filled is a polyamide powder loaded with glass spheres that add stiffness and dimensional stability. The material possesses higher thermal resistance than unfilled polyamides and exhibits excellent long-term wear resistance. Due to the glass additive, it has decreased impact and tensile strengths compared to other nylons.

PA 12 40% Glass-Filled Black is a 40% glass-filled nylon. Final parts are dyed black. The biggest advantage offered by this material is heat deflection at 175°C (347°F) (measured at 66 psi), ranking second best after PA 12 Mineral-Filled.

PA 12 Black is a high tensile strength nylon. Final parts are dyed black, and they exhibit quality surface finishes and slightly more isotropic mechanical properties when compared to SLS. When more detail is required, PA 12 can achieve smaller minimum feature resolution (0.02 in) as compared to SLS materials (0.03 in). PA 12 Black is the best material option for designs that incorporate living hinges.

PA12 has all-around great mechanical properties and chemical resistance and is ideal for functional parts and prototypes. This material is dyed black as part of standard finishing and then surface polished for high cosmetic consistency.

This sustainable and highly cost-effective material is made from recycled powder. It has an off-white hue but otherwise behaves much like PA12 White, offering high impact and temperature resistance plus stability under a wide range of environmental conditions and near isotropic mechanical properties. PA12 Value is a great choice for functional and prototype parts.

PA 12 White is an economical material choice for functional prototypes and end-use parts. It offers high impact and temperature resistance, is very durable, and remains stable under a range of environmental conditions. The nylon material exhibits a white finish with a slightly rougher surface texture compared to other nylons.

PC-Like Advanced High Temp is best used for parts that need strength and stiffness combined with high temperature resistance. With a thermal post-cure, the part’s heat deflection can be improved even further, but at the expense of durability.

PC-Like Translucent is ideal for parts with fine details that require translucence and high stiffness. Custom finishing is required to achieve functional clarity. It has a high tensile strength and modulus, making it ideal for prototyping parts similar to molded polycarbonate.

Polypropylene Natural is true Polypropylene. With Polypropylene being one of the most commonly used plastics worldwide, this material is ideal for prototyping and end use production. PP Natural is a low weight material, by comparison to other plastics, and it exhibits durability in addition to being both tough and flexible.

PP-Like Translucent White is translucent in appearance. It’s also the most flexible stereolithography material available with a flexural modulus of 1,600 MPa (232 ksi). Its mechanical properties are similar to the average values of injection-molded polypropylene except for a slightly lower elongation at break.

Tough Black is a slow-curing, engineering-grade photopolymer with high strength, good impact resistance, and excellent surface finish. It is great for a wide range of tooling applications such as jigs, fixtures, housings, and covers.

Aluminum (AlSi10Mg) is comparable to a 3000 series alloy that is used in casting and die casting processes. It has good strength-to-weight ratio, high temperature and corrosion resistance, and good fatigue, creep and rupture strength. Material property values below are measured after stress relief.

Cobalt-Chrome (Co28Cr6Mo) material is used in our DMLS process. It is a superalloy comprised primarily of cobalt and chromium, and is known for its high strength-to-weight ratio, excellent creep and corrosion resistance.

Inconel is a high strength, corrosion resistant nickel chromium superalloy ideal for parts that will experience extreme temperatures and mechanical loading. Final parts built in Inconel 718 receive stress relief application. Solution and aging per AMS 5663 is also available to increase tensile strength and hardness. Material property values below are measured after solution and aging heat treatment.

Stainless Steel 17-4 PH is a precipitation hardened stainless steel that is known for its hardness and corrosion resistance. Final parts built 17-4 PH receive vacuum solution heat treatment as well as H900 aging. Material property values below are measured after heat treatment.

Stainless steel 316L is a workhorse material used for manufacturing acid and corrosion resistant parts. Final parts built in 316L receive stress relief application. Material property values below are measured after stress relief.

Titanium (Ti6Al4V) is a workhorse alloy. The mechanical properties of Ti6Al4V are comparable to wrought titanium for tensile strength, elongation, and hardness. Final parts built in Ti6Al4V receive vacuum stress relief application. Material property values below are measured after stress relief.

PolyJet provides the ability to choose a desired hardness or combine material properties into a single build, which makes it ideal for prototyping overmolding parts. Shore A hardnesses of 30A, 40A, 50A, 60A, 70A, 85A, 95A, and rigid are available in these colors: clear/translucent, white, and black.

This thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) combines rubber-like elasticity and elongation with good abrasion and impact resistance. It can be leveraged to produce both prototypes and functional parts.

True silicone is 100% pure silicone that is available in different shore-A hardness as detailed below. The material is suitable to produce both functional prototypes and end-use products, which can be used in a temperature range of -30°C to +180°C (-22°F to +356°F).