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Table of Contents
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 on machines without enclosure
Disadvantages
- Requires post-processing (annealing) for best performance
- Pure PET is difficult to work with
Variants
Standard guidance on 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.
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 | Optimistic Usable Temperature |
---|---|---|---|---|
PET | ? | ? | ? | ? |
PET-GF | 300C | 110C | None | 100C |
PET-CF | ? | ? | ? | ? |
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.