For many years, carbon fibre has mostly been associated with large industries such as the automotive and aerospace industry. Carbon Fibre is very strong yet very light hence providing savings in weight and not compromising the structural integrity and safety of the overall part.
Carbon Fibre is now available, albeit a bit toned down, for our desktop 3D Printing and rapid prototyping needs.
Carbon Fibre PLA, developed by Proto-Pasta, is a PLA resin that is compounded with 15% by weight of Carbon Fibre. This makes the material stiff and it resists bending to a higher extent than conventional PLA. Parts made with Carbon Fibre PLA look and feel more solid than conventional PLA.
Many of our customers use Carbon Fibre PLA to create custom parts and mounts for quad-copters and mini-RC cars.
Carbon Fibre PLA is available at the 3D Printing Materials Store at SGD 42 for a loose uncoiled 250 gram spool.
We usually print at 210˚C on a Makerbot Replicator 2. Till now, the 0.4mm extruder nozzle doesn't seem to have any problems. Carbon Fibre PLA sticks well to Blue Painters Tape. Carbon Fibre PLA filaments are brittle so utmost care must be taken to ensure that the filaments don't break. It is also advisable to watch the print quite closely when 3D Printing with Carbon Fibre PLA.