Nylon is a high performance polymer material in traditional industry. Nylon has also become one of the most widely used materials in 3D printing. PA6, PA11, PA12, PA66 and so on often appear in the available materials for 3D printing. In form, it is divided into powder materials which can be used for powder bed 3D printing technology, such as selective laser sintering (SLS) and multi-jet fusion (MJF); Or can be used for FDM 3D printing technology wire.

Polyamide (PA), also known as Nylon, is a kind of polymer containing amide groups in the repeating unit of the main chain of the molecule. Nylon can be made into a variety of plastics, and can be drawn into fibers, but also can be made into films, coatings and adhesives. Because nylon has good mechanical, heat resistance, wear resistance and other properties, products can be widely used in clothing, industrial silk, automobile, machinery, electronic and electrical, transportation, packaging industry and many other fields.

Nylon has a long history and a growing family. In 1935, PA66 was first synthesized in the laboratory. In 1938, DuPont Company in the United States officially announced the birth of the world's first synthetic fiber and named it nylon. In the following decades, the nylon family gradually developed and grew, and new varieties such as PA6, PA610 and PA11 continued to appear. PA6 and PA66 are still the two types of nylon products with mature production technology and wide application fields.

Nylon can be divided into aliphatic, semi-aromatic, aromatic and so on according to the chemical structure of the main chain.

Aliphatic polyamide is a linear polymer material, which is formed by alternating links between methyl chain segment and amide group, and has good toughness. By introducing aromatic ring into the main chain, the movement of molecular chain can be limited, and the glass transition temperature can be increased, so as to improve the heat resistance and mechanical properties of nylon products. When one of the raw amines or acids of polyamide contains benzene ring, semi-aromatic polyamide can be prepared, and when both raw materials contain benzene ring, full aromatic polyamide can be prepared.

The heat resistance and mechanical properties of semi-aromatic polyamide have been enhanced, and has good dimensional stability and solvent resistance. The whole aromatic polyamide has excellent properties such as ultra-high strength, high modulus, high temperature resistance, acid and alkali resistance, and radiation resistance. However, because its highly symmetrical main chain structure contains dense benzene ring and amide groups, the processing performance is slightly inferior. Injection molding is difficult to achieve and relatively expensive.

Compared with the conventional varieties, the special nylon with new synthetic monomer has better performance. Conventional nylon (PA6, PA66, etc.) still has some shortcomings, such as strong hydrophilicity, high temperature resistance, poor transparency, etc., even after reinforced, flame retardant modification, which limits its application scope to a certain extent.

Therefore, in order to improve the shortcomings of conventional nylon and increase new characteristics, a series of special nylon with different properties can be obtained by introducing new synthetic monomers to adapt to more usage scenarios. These special nylon include high temperature nylon, long carbon chain nylon, transparent nylon, biological Kinelon and nylon elastomer and many other varieties.

Long carbon chain nylon has excellent properties, and nylon 12 has both performance and cost advantages.

The length of methylene between the 2 amide groups in the main chain of nylon molecules is more than 10 nylon known as long carbon chain nylon, the main varieties include nylon 11, nylon 12, nylon 612, nylon 1212, nylon 1012, nylon 1313 and so on.

Nylon 12 is the most widely used long carbon chain nylon, in addition to most of the general properties of nylon, low water absorption, and has high dimensional stability, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, good toughness, easy processing and other advantages.

Compared with PA11, another long carbon chain nylon material, the price of butadiene, the raw material of PA12, is only one third of the price of castor oil, the raw material of PA11. It can replace PA11 and be applied in most scenes, and has a wide range of applications in automobile fuel pipe, air brake hose, submarine cable, 3D printing and many other fields.

Nylon 12 material performs well in 3D printing. Compared with other materials, PA12 powder has excellent characteristics such as high fluidity, low static electricity, low water absorption, moderate melting point and high dimensional accuracy of products. The fatigue resistance and toughness can also meet the needs of higher mechanical properties of the workpiece, so nylon 12 gradually become the ideal material for 3D printing engineering plastics.

Xiamen LFT composite plastic co., ltd

Xiamen LFT composite plastic Co., Ltd. is a brand-name company that focuses on LFT&LFRT. Long Glass Fiber Series (LGF) & Long Carbon Fiber Series (LCF). The company's thermoplastic LFT can be used for LFT-G injection molding and extrusion, and can also be used for LFT-D molding. It can be produced according to customer requirements: 5~25mm length. The company's long-fiber continuous infiltration reinforced thermoplastics have passed ISO9001 & 16949 system certification, and the products have obtained lots of national trademarks and patents.