Designed for industrial, commercial, and clinical users, the natural 2.85mm Bridge Nylon Filament from taulman3D "bridges" the strength of nylon 645 together with the cost associated with ABS and PLA thermoplastics. It provides users with a high tensile strength, improved adherence to the printing platform, reduced water absorption due to humidity, reduced shrinkage, and the non-destructive evaluation of printed parts.

General Features

Adherence to the Printing Platform

Those that follow the use of nylon in posts, blogs, and 3DP discussion rooms know of using garolite (LE) as a print surface. While this works well for some taulman3D nylons, garolite is not always easy to acquire and even so, requires a properly cut section that fits each user's unit. While the surface properties of most nylons is extremely slippery, making adherence to the printing platform difficult, adjustments have been made to reduce the surface effect, thus allowing for the use of most PVA glues, either full strength or diluted. The specific PVA used in taulman3D's labs is "ELMER'S Glue-All" White PVA, which uses some dilution.

Reduced Water Uptake

While it is not possible to eliminate the water uptake by nylon, it is possible to localize it to the surface through final processing changes. Therefore, when printing, rather than water creating a subtle popping that can affect the surface finish, Bridge will hold the water to the outer portion, resulting in a slight steam when wet. The result of this is that Bridge needs little or no drying in the winter and just needs to be warmed in the summer months. This is a manufacturing process that taulman3D's extrusion house developed and added to their existing processes.

Reduced Shrinkage

The same process that reduces water uptake also helps to reduce shrinkage. While nylon will always have a slightly higher amount than ABS, taulman3D was able to reduce it to an in/in value less than their current nylons. These changes also led to a slight reduction in stringing, as the extruded threads are a thicker melt.

Non-Destructive Evaluation

Non-destructive evaluation of 3D-printed parts is a function of the transparency of Bridge. Like nylon 645, this transparency allows for the visual inspection of printed parts. This is a combined request from industrial and clinical customers. As noted early on, parts can be printed "too fast" for some polymers. While the outside of the part may look acceptable, a part printed too fast will not have internal fill material that actually adheres to the inside of the perimeter. With Bridge and nylon 645, Non-destructive evaluation is a simple visual verification.

Certified Measure of Strength

With this combination of advancements, taulman3D has created filament with a tensile stress of 4800 psi.

Other

Surface Texture

Very good

Living Hinge

Very good

Use of Taps for Threads

Excellent

CNC Finish Tooling

Any

CNC Coolant

Forced air only

Use in 3D Forging

Excellent

Printed Prosthesis

Excellent

Robotic Assemblies

Excellent

Jewelry Printing

N/A

Fumes

None

Lenticulated Overlays

N/A

Dye Type

Acid based

Dye Uptake (Saturation)

Very good