You are here

All about PETG in 3D printing

Submitted by makenica on Sun, 06/06/2021 - 08:47

PETG is one of the most versatile 3D printing materials, strong and easy to print. It is getting more popular each day and many 3D printer owners and 3D printing services are starting to use it for their printed parts.

PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is the most used plastic in the world: you can find it in bottles, food containers, textile fibers … It is a transparent material, with very good chemical resistance and suitable for food use. The PET variant that we use in 3D printing is PETG. The G in the end means Glycol-modified, also refers to a change in the chemical structure of the polymer that makes it more transparent, less fragile and easier to process than the common PET. With these improvements and its ease of printing the PETG has turned into among the most used materials in 3D printing online.

Which are the attributes of PETG (PETG vs PLA and PETG vs ABS)

PETG is a 3D printing bangalore substance having very good mechanical properties. To explore its possibilities, we'll compare its properties with another two most popular plastics, ABS and PLA. We compare PETG vs PLA and PETG vs ABS so you can select the right material to your 3D printing project. The general rules Which You Can follow to understand the PETG are:

Rigidity - We call rigidity the problem of a material to be deformed (by way of instance, bent or stretched). The PETG is a less stiff material (more elastic) than the PLA: it is easier to bend it and it is less delicate compared to PLA. It is also less rigid than ABS, but in this case the difference is much smaller.
Resistance - In general, the PETG interrupts the blows, the efforts and"it is more challenging to break" compared to PLA and ABS, hence it's stronger or has higher immunity. In addition to getting better properties on newspaper compared to ABS (frequently considered a strong plastic in 3D printing), the higher adhesion of the layers makes PETG bits even more immune in practice.
Resistance to temperature - PETG is slightly bit more resistant to temperature than PLA, but less than ABS. The PETG begins to soften at 80ºC, more than the PLA (70ºC) but less fever compared to the ABS (105Cº)

Other interesting properties of PETG

In addition to great mechanical properties and higher resistance to temperature than PLA, there are other properties Which Make PETG very intriguing for specific applications:

Approval for food usage - The PETG gets the acceptance of the FDA (the US agency that regulates food, drugs and makeup ) for food use. It's a characteristic with which you must be cautious in the case of pieces printed with PETG, that can be printed or stored in an uncontrolled environment, which may come into contact with contaminants and which have grooves and cavities that are hard to sterilize.
Chemical resistance - The PETG is quite stable and chemically resistant to the attack of acids and bases.
Transparency - PETG in its natural condition (without colorants) allows around 90% of their light to pass through, which makes it suitable for printing transparent or translucent components.
Odorless printing - Contrary to ABS and similar to PLA (which smells when published but is not a strong or unpleasant odor) PETG does not create odor when published. Being the material used in bottles and food containers, we already have a infrastructure to recycle the PETG! This infrastructure in Spain is the one which begins in the yellow container. You can throw away your neglected prints and used bits together with the containers and bottles to be recycled.

In summary

The PETG is among the most intriguing materials for 3D printing in bangalore . It combines the best features of the two most popular plastics: mechanical properties superior to those of ABS and the ease of printing and finishing the PLA. Choose it for your toughest pieces or when you have to resist the attack of chemical solutions