Buyers’ Tips for Choosing Carbon Fiber 3D Printing Filament

Carbon fiber is a highly sought-after material in 3D printing for its increased strength and lightweight composition. Simply adding this substance to your filaments can provide additional durability when needed and make for more stable results in the long run. However, if you’re going to purchase a filament with carbon fiber, it’s important that you choose carefully to ensure you’re getting the best. Here are a few buyers’ tips for choosing carbon fiber 3D printing filament for your projects.

Assess Your Needs for the Filament

Before you commit to purchasing a specific carbon fiber filament, it’s important that you make sure it meets your needs. Every 3D printing project is different and, therefore, requires varying characteristics from the materials you use. Assessing these needs now will guarantee that the filament you ultimately purchase will be the best one for the task overall. This is especially true in the case of carbon fiber varieties because they’re typically better suited for applications that require a lot of additional strength.

Consider Your Base Material Options

Many carbon fiber filaments aren’t made from pure carbon. In fact, most of these substances only use carbon fiber as a reinforcing material for a base compound. As such, you must first choose the right base filament before you can think about making it stronger. Nylon, PLA, and PETG are all wonderful general-purpose filaments with great strength and pliability characteristics of their own. So, these are always great options to consider during your research.

Check Compatibility With Your Printer

Another vital thing to keep in mind is your 3D printer’s ability to work with carbon fiber filaments. Carbon fiber has a very abrasive texture, which can damage certain components if your printer can’t properly accommodate it. Because of this, it’s highly recommended that you double-check your model’s compatibility with these materials and consider finding alternatives if necessary.

Familiarize Yourself With the Best Suppliers

The most important buyers’ tip for choosing carbon fiber 3D printing filaments, however, is to purchase them from a quality supplier. The professionals that create and distribute these materials for several industries to use have crucial experience that will determine whether it’s worth using their products. You want to make sure you purchase from a supplier that tests their filaments and constantly works to improve their formulas.

At Filamatrix, we use carbon fiber to make some of our strongest materials. Our nylon carbon fiber filament, for instance, contains all the flexibility and durability of nylon with the advanced tensile strength of carbon fiber. With this reinforcement, you can use these filaments for a larger range of projects and print out quality models with ease.