Z 3D Printing Wiki

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====== PET - Polyethylene Terephthalate ======
PET is a common material often found in rigid bottles for low-temperature goods such as peanut butter or sports drinks. It is the most readily accessible semi-crystalline polymer and is therefore difficult to print. Recent development of filled (CF/GF) PET filaments have resolved much of the printability issues inherent to pure PET.
==== Advantages ====
  * Reasonable value for temperature resistance
  * Broad color variety
  * Filled PET printable with low (even no!) chamber temperatures
==== Disadvantages ====
  * Requires post-processing (annealing) for best performance
  * Pure PET is difficult to work with
  * Extremely hygroscopic - requires filament dryer with higher than normal temperature (80C) and [[equipment:drybox|drybox]]
==== Variants ====

Standard guidance on [[filaments:additives|additives]] applies to an extreme degree.

==== Annealing ====

Information on PET(-GF/-CF) specific annealing here.

Placeholder: We recommend 120C annealing, which produces parts good to ~100C. Higher temperatures are more difficult to process PET parts with, but yield parts with greater temperature resistance.

Make sure you calibrate your printer to the post-processed product (post annealing). Generally, you can expect approximately 1% shrink. This //will// cause undersized holes in your parts, so calibration is crucial when printing assemblies.

==== Vendors ====

With recent popularity in PET, several vendors are offering products. Despite identical labeling, experiences have varied between brands.

Note that vendors may change their suppliers, additives, and overall quality without notice. This page may become outdated - if this occurs, please update this page.

^  Product  ^ Notes  ^
|Phaetus aeForce  PET-GF  |High quality filled PET  |
|Fusrock  PET-GF  |High quality filled PET  |
|Qidi PET-CF  |High quality filled PET  |
|Raise3D PET-GF/-CF  |High quality filled PET  |
|Bambu PET-CF  |Tends to melt instead of annealing, expensive  |
|Siraya Tech PET-CF  |Lower CF content (10%) than others, sensitive to annealing temperatures  |
|Siddement PET-CF  |Abnormally low temperatures for PET (-50C) compared to others, poor results when annealing/calibrating  |
|Polymaker PET-CF  |Somewhat flexible, generates dust - abnormally low temperatures compared to others. Printing issues have been observed with 0.6mm nozzles.  |

Although each of these filaments have been tested with similar observations, it is currently theorized that Phaetus, Fusrock, Qidi, and Raise 3D are currently selling the same product.

==== Baseline Printing Recommendations ====

These numbers are provided as a baseline, and **need** adjustment and calibration for your specific printer/filament/color combination.

^  Variant  ^  Hotend Temperature  ^  Heatbed Temperature  ^  Chamber Temperature  ^ [[filaments:maximum_temperature#optimistic_usable_temperature|Optimistic Usable Temperature]] ^  Drying Temperature  ^
|PET  |?  |?  |?  |?  |
|PET-GF/-CF  |300-320C  |80C  |None  |100C((Depends on annealing procedure))  |80-100C  |

==== Other notes ====

PET has powerful adhesion to PEI sheets. It is highly recommended to use an interface material like PVA (generic glue-stick) or other products to prevent PEI sheet damage.