CarbonX™ PC+CF, Carbon Fiber Polycarbonate 3D Printing Filament by 3DXtech

Buy Here: https://visionminer.com/materials

0:00 - CFPC from 3DXTech
1:52 - What Industries Use This Material
2:19 - What Temps You Need to Print This
4:05 - Material Specifications
5:03 - Environmental Factors
7:14 - Example Parts
11:12 - Break Tests
15:14 - Burn Tests
19:30 - Outro

CarbonX Carbon-fiber Reinforced Polycarbonate Filament, known as CF-PC, is a fantastic carbon-filled printing material that not only delivers great structural integrity at a high heat, softness, and with excellent surface quality.

Polycarbonate is used EVERYWHERE -- there’s probably some within reach of you, as you’re watching this video: Electronic components, as a good insulator while being heat-resistant and flame-retardant; construction materials, like dome lights, glazing, roofing sheets, sound walls; In data storage, all those CD’s, DVD’s, and Blu-Rays are made of polycarbonate… in sheets/films, it’s used for signs, displays, and posters. Carbon fiber polycarbonate is often seen in the automotive industry because of its thermal properties, in manufacturing for tooling and jigs, and in aerospace for tubing.

WHAT KIND OF MACHINE DO YOU NEED TO PRINT THIS FILAMENT?

Nozzle Temp: 280-310°C
Bed Temp: 110 - 120°C - for adhesive, our Nano Polymer Adhesive works great!
Chamber Temp: You don’t HAVE to have a heated chamber, but on anything bigger than a few inches, it sure helps a LOT.

If you’re dual-extruding, this stuff works great with Aquatek X1 support filament, also from 3DXTech!


For bed adhesion, our nano polymer adhesive works GREAT on every surface we’ve tested! One bottle to rule them all…. Seriously, our stuff works with just about every material aside from POM and PP, so grab a bottle if you haven’t already!
Speed: again, 40-80mm/s and faster -- on the HSE, they’re printing this stuff at 50-500 mm/s -- that’s right --- the HSE is an incredible machine, make sure you look that up.
Chamber Temp: Not required, but 60+c is helpful for strength!

Drying: yes, you MUST dry this filament. Like almost every thermoplastic, this does need to be dried thoroughly before processing, which is the fancy word for melting.

We do have a full drying kit, including the vacuum chamber, at visionminer.com -- it’s the best way we’ve found to get all that moisture out, so your prints don’t get ugly and weak. We’re here to make it easy, and that’s why we ALSO made METAL spools, so you can dry at higher temps, faster. With Nylon, a vacuum chamber helps a TON, so definitely check those out.

BASIC MATERIAL SPECS:

The addition of Carbon Fiber in PC increases flexural and tensile strengths, making material more rigid when printed. Without Carbon Fiber, the known specs for strength in polycarbonate filaments are:

Tensile Strength: 95MPa
Tensile Elongation: 60% at Break
Tensile Modulus: 320MPa
Flexural Strength: 15MPa

While measurements on CarbonX CF+PC are not readily available, you can assume the addition of CF adds to these measurements for normal PC by 3DxTech.

Environmental Factors

UV: Not the greatest, as Polycarbonate does break down over time, with direct exposure to sunlight.

Hydrolytic resistance
Absorbs water very fast normally, will absorb water less so after printing

Food-safe/Sterilization
Food contact for CF-filled items is not recommended
Chemicals
Gasoline
Oil & hydrocarbons
Great resistance to greases, lubricants, and oils
Alcohols: Good (Methyl, Ethyl, Benzyl, Butyl)
Acetone: Vulnerable
Chlorine: Fair Resistance
Sulfuric Acid & HCL: Vulnerable
Electrical
Insulating
3.17 Dielectric Constant at 60Hz
10^16 Ohm Resistance
Carbon Fiber will negatively impact PC’s insulative properties

Check out our other videos for the full comparisons!

At Vision Miner, we specialize in Functional 3D printing, especially high-performance plastics like PEEK, ULTEM, PPSU, PPS, CFPA, and more. If you're interested in using functional 3D printing and materials in your business, feel free to reach out, and we can help you make the right choice for your application.

Call 833-774-6863 or email contact@visionminer.com, and we're here to help!