All you want know about the Glass-Filled Nylon
You’ve probably heard of nylon: the synthetic material was developed in the 1930s by DuPont and quickly revolutionized the world of textiles and materials. It even played a role in securing a win for the Allies in the Second World War. Since then, the material has only grown in terms of its adoption and applications. It has also been improved upon. Composite nylon blends, such as glass-filled nylons are creating new opportunities for nylon-based plastics, particularly for engineering applications.
What are the Advantages of Glass-Filled Nylon?
Glass-filled nylon offers seven main advantages over other materials, including unfilled nylon.
Enhanced Strength and Stiffness: Compared to traditional nylon, glass-filled nylons have a significantly higher tensile strength (as much as 70% higher). Some Nylon GF blends have up to 80% greater stiffness.
Improved Dimensional Stability: The addition of glass fibers reduces nylon’s coefficient of thermal expansion for greater dimensional stability. In other words, glass-filled nylon is less prone to warping, shrinking, or expansion with temperature variations.
Increased Heat Resistance: Adding glass fibers to nylon increases the material’s heat distortion temperature (HDT). This enables glass-filled nylon to withstand higher operating temperatures without significant deformation or loss of mechanical properties.
Enhanced Impact Resistance: Glass-filled nylon can withstand greater impact and has improved resistance to cracking and fracturing. This makes it suitable for applications with dynamic loading.
Good Chemical Resistance: Nylon has good chemical resistance but glass-filled versions of this material can also withstand exposure to various chemicals, oils, and solvents.
Excellent Moldability: Glass-filled nylon can be molded into complex shapes and intricate designs. It can be injection-molded with ease and supports cost-effective parts production.
Electrical Insulation Properties: Like unfilled nylon, glass-filled nylon is electrically insulating. This makes it an option for products with electrical or electronic components.
What are the Disadvantages of Glass-Filled Nylon?
Although glass-filled nylon offers numerous advantages, there are also disadvantages to consider.
Increased Abrasiveness: Glass-filled nylon is more abrasive than unfilled nylon, so there’s increased wear on 3D printer nozzles, injection molds, and CNC machine tools.
Higher Cost: Glass-filled nylon tends to cost more than unfilled nylon. Because its added strength and performance come at a higher price, glass-filled nylon may not be cost-effective for some applications.
More Brittle: Glass-reinforced nylon tends to be more brittle than unfilled nylon. Therefore, it’s more prone to cracking or fracturing under sudden impact or high-stress conditions.
Added Weight: Glass-filled nylon can weigh up to 15% more than unfilled nylon — a drawback for applications where lightweight parts are a priority.
Anisotropic Properties: Glass-filled nylon exhibits anisotropic behavior, meaning that its mechanical properties can vary depending on the direction of loading. The alignment of the glass fibers during manufacturing can create variations in strength and stiffness along different axes of the part.
Moisture Absorption: Unlike Nylon 12, glass-filled nylon tends to absorb moisture, which can lead to dimensional or structural weaknesses in parts exposed to wet or humid environments.
How is Glass-Filled Nylon Used in Parts Production?
3D printing, injection molding, and CNC machining can all produce parts made of glass-filled nylon materials.
Injection molding: Plastic injection molding is a widely used method for mass producing plastic products. The process consists of injecting a melted thermoplastic, such as nylon, into a mold cavity under pressure and then rapidly cooling the plastic. The hardened part can then be removed and undergo post-processing if needed. There are many grades of reinforced nylon available for injection molding, the most common of which is glass-filled nylon 66, with a fiber reinforcement ratio of between 10 and 50%.
CNC Machining：Glass-filled nylon can also be machined, but the material’s abrasiveness poses challenges. As with injection molds and 3D printer nozzles, CNC machine tools wear more quickly when machining glass-filled nylon. For best results, carbide or ceramic tools are recommended for machining glass-filled polymers, and reducing the cutting speed can also reduce tool wear.
3D Printing: There are three forms of 3D printing that use glass-filled nylon materials:
SLS (Selective Laser Sintering)
MJF (Multi Jet Fusion)
FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling)
Because of glass-filled nylon’s abrasiveness, hardened steel nozzles are recommended for 3D printing with the material. With SLS, the most commonly used nylon grade is PA 12, which can be reinforced with up to 40% glass fibers, but another option is nylon 3200 glass-filled material. For FDM 3D printing, glass-filled nylon filaments such as nylon 6 (PA 6) with 30% filler are used.
In protosoon, we provide glass-filled material with technologies 3D printing, CNC and injection molding. Our technician will choose the best technology for your project.