With the launch of these new SLS materials today I will be interested to see who runs them and their results.
Nylon 12 Tough
Nylon 12 White
Open Material License (other materials)
If anyone is jumping into these…please post your experiences. Love to hear about it.
Running solely Nylon 12 GF and the frustrations of a 70% refresh, we have been entertaining this week trying Nylon 12…so now this announcement has us scratching our heads.
Nylon 12 “Tough” grabbed our attention!
However, I am a little confused on its tech specs… doesn’t seem very “tough”.
Compared to Nylon 12 it appears weaker and the Heat deflection is even lower than Nylon 12…which is the reason we have stayed with Nylon 12 GF for our desert/vehicle applications.
Surprised how low Nylon 12 “Tough” is across the board other than “Izod Impact”…
Also Nylon 12 “White” is even weaker.
In our hopes to get more affordable powder for “production end use parts” not sure these are as exciting as we initially hoped when seeing them. They look “cheaper” possibly to run (even though I am not seeing refresh rates posted yet)…but a alot weaker and not so “Tough”.
Maybe I am not reading it right but love to hear about it more and maybe the open material license could be the more promising release announcement for what we were looking for.
Standing by for feedback!
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I understand the confusion. Toughness and strength are often mixed up, but they measure different things. Toughness is specifically defined as the amount of energy a material can absorb before fracture, while strength is the material’s ability to handle stress (force per area) in tension or flexure.
For example, if we look at the Notched Izod impact strength, Nylon 12 Tough has a value of 60 J/m, compared to Nylon 12, which has 32 J/m. This means that Nylon 12 Tough can absorb almost twice the impact energy of standard Nylon 12, making it significantly tougher. So, while Nylon 12 Tough might not be stronger in terms of stress or heat deflection, it’s designed to withstand more impact without breaking.
The confusion around toughness versus strength is pretty common, like how people often say “ABS is stronger than PLA,” but in reality, PLA is generally stronger in terms of stress, while ABS is much tougher and can handle more impact without fracturing.
In your case, if heat deflection is critical for your desert/vehicle applications, Nylon 12 GF may still be your best option since it handles heat better. Nylon 12 Tough could be worth considering for applications where impact resistance is more important than high heat tolerance.
Regarding the Nylon 12 White, here is a comparison between Nylon 12 White, Nylon 12 Tough, and regular Nylon 12:
Finally, Open Material Mode (previously Open Material Licence) could be a good path if you’re looking for more tailored materials to meet specific needs and are willing to experiment a bit yourself with materials R&D.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
