FFF 3D printing

FFF … fused filament fabrication (newer term) FDM … fused deposition modeling

Local manufacturing. Make stuff at home.

Some non-exhaustive list of available plastics (as of 2025)

Easy to print

• PLA, PHA (no need for moisture management, deforms in mere hot car, micro-cracks on permanent high mechanical load, usually stiff and brittle, from biamaterials but biodegradability is questioned)
• PETG / PCTG (hygroscopic & more banana-warping tendency than PLA, less still less brittle but can still shatter)
• TPU Thermoplastic PolyUrethane & similar (softest end can be challenging, can't shatter)
• PVB (alcohol soluble => gluing to itself or glass, powder-pigment-painting, smoothing; weird ok smell, mechanically similar to PETG)
• PVA (water soluble, same stuff as in PVA glue, from crude oil but biodegradable)
• PCL PolyCaproLactone (can be deformed at temperatures not burning ones hand, used by easiest RepRap 3D printers)

More challenging to print - easier when fiber filled

• HIPS, ABS, ASA (all stink aggressively viscerally toxic, list increases in price and quality)
• PA PolyAmide (aka Nyon, notoriously bad warping tendency, usually can't shatter)
• PC PolyCarbinate (hard and tough but so hard that it can shatter)
• Polyolefine (seems interesting …)
• Various challenging and very expensive high performance polymers

Better stay well away type hard to print:

• POM (low friction), HDPE (low stick)

Difficulty comes from three aspects:

• thermal expansion coefficient withing heating range
• elasticity modulus withing heating range
• filament to print-bed material adhesion (low friction is bad)
  (and filament to itself adhesion under printing conditions)

Relation to atomically precise manufacturing

These is some overlap with the design constraints for
future mechanosynthesis and design of crystolecules.

Related

• Applicability of macro 3D printing for nanomachine prototyping & Scale transposed prototyping
• The DAPMAT demo project
• ReMec project