ABS Sandy

Treed filaments, a manufacturer renowned for its wide range of FDM 3D printing materials, stands out for its sector-specific filament families, such as architecture.

The filaments developed by Treed filaments for the architectural sector include ABS Heritage Brick, ABS Caementum and ABS Sandy, among others. All these materials have an ABS base with mineral fillers and pigments that give the filaments a surface finish reminiscent of brick, cement or sand, depending on the filament.

Sandy ABS filament is an ABS-based filament with mineral fillers that offers a sand-like finish.

Image 1: Sandy ABS filament. Source: Treed filaments.

Thanks to its ABS base, Sandy ABS filament inherits from this material some of its most representative properties, such as its mechanical properties and the possibility of being easily machined or post-processed.

ABS is a plastic made of acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene. It is referred to as an engineering plastic and is a widely used material in industry. However, ABS is more difficult to print than other materials such as PLA, due to its printing requirements and the need to use an FDM 3D printer with a heated bed.

Sandy ABS 3D printed parts are sand-coloured and have a rough surface finish that helps hide imperfections and layers derived from FDM or FFF printing technology.

In addition to the material's own finish, the user can post-process the parts by sanding to smooth the surfaces. If the user is looking for a polished finish, they can choose to use a fine-grit water-based sandpaper.

Sandy ABS is inspired by sand sculptures and aims to give 3D printed parts with this filament a look and feel that is true to sand. Sand sculptures are usually built on beaches, but can also be built on riverbanks or even using sand from quarries. Sand sculptures are considered an art form because of the complexity that the works can reach.

Image 2: Part printed with Sandy ABS filament. Source: Treed filaments.

Thanks to Sandy ABS filament, artists, archaeologists or architects can produce pieces with the unique finish offered by sand, without the need to work in the environments described above and without having the limitations posed by sand modelling.

Thus, some of the most outstanding applications of this filament are as follows:

• Artistic production of sculptures.
• Manufacture of decorative products such as vases or figures.
• Manufacture of architectural scale models with realistic finishes.

The use of architectural filaments such as ABS Sandy expands the creative possibilities for artists, craftsmen, architects or archaeologists, bringing original, eye-catching and realistic finishes to 3D printed pieces.