Essentium HTN-CF25

Essentium is an American manufacturer of industrial printers and technical filament. With presence in the USA, Asia and Europe, and their innovative spirit, they are revolutionizing the 3D printing world and leading the way to Industry 4.0. Essentium’s work has made it possible for many companies to prototype and manufacture on a large scale in-house, with quality but in a quick and affordable fashion. Essentium’s catalog contains numerous hightech filaments, mostly polymers and blends optimized for exceptional strength, flexibility and high mechanical performance in the most challenging industrial settings. The Essentium filaments find countless applications across various disciplines, such as aerospace and defense, automotive, biomedical, contract manufacturing, consumer goods, and electronic manufacturing.

High performance filament

Essentium's HTN CF25 (High Temperature Nylon) filament, nicknamed "Black Aluminum" by the company, belongs to the Essentium’s ample material portfolio, to the high temperature nylon (PA) family. This filament is composed of 75 % polyamide copolymer and the remaining 25 % is a carbon fiber core.

Image 1: Parts printed with the Essentium HTN CF25. Source: Essentium.

Polyamide copolymer, (aka nylon), is a synthetic polymer created by bonding alternating diamine and dicarboxylic acid monomers. Nylon was first used to make toothbrush bristles and women’s stockings right before WWII. During the war, nylon was mostly used in parachutes, ropes, body armor and helmet liners for the US army. Currently, nylon continues having numerous commercial applications, for example in fabrics and fibers, molding in the automotive industry, or in the manufacturing of electronics and food packaging. Nylon is also widely used in 3D printing (as powder in SLS and MJF, or as pellets and filament in FDM) due to its qualities of durability, flexibility, resistance to abrasion, friction, corrosion and chemicals. Nylon is a highly versatile thermoplastic that can be used as a base for specialistic filament blends with various technical properties.

One of such blends is the HTN CF25 filament. Filaments with advanced applications are often enriched with carbon fibres or glass fibres to make sure the specialistic filament is going to be up to the task. Adding carbon fibre (CF) makes the 3D prints more rigid, stiff, more dimensionally stable, and lighter (ideal substitute for metal parts). Those features make plastic reinforced with CF perfect for the automotive industry (high tensile strength and modulus, and high temperature tolerance) and the aerospace industry (weight reduced up to 50 % with preserved functionality).

Image 2: Essentium’s multilayer technology used in their carbon enriched filaments. Source: Essentium.

High temperature filament with 25 % carbon fiber

Essentium’s HTN CF25 is a high-temperature semi-crystalline nylon with a core enriched with 25 % of carbon fibers. In comparison to standard nylon filaments, HTN CF25’s thermal and mechanical resistance are significantly improved. It deflects at a higher temperature than regular nylons, it is tougher and stronger, more resistant to abrasion, with boosted chemical and solvent resistance. The HTN CF25 is easy to print.

All those qualities make this filament an excellent choice for tools (injection molds, thermoforming, blow molding), high stiffness jigs and fixtures, high-strength end-use parts, or as a replacement for light-duty aluminum parts.