Annealing Nylon CF Slide 3D printed parts
There are two main benefits of annealing your Nylon CF Slide parts:
- The mechanical properties (strength and stiffness) will increase by approximately 20% and it will ensure maximum intrinsic properties such as chemical resistance
- Temperature resistance under low load (HDT B, 0.45 MPa) increases from ~ 135 °C to a HDT B of ~ 180 °C. Annealing basically transforms your Nylon CF Slide to a fully semicrystalline state.
A downside of annealing is that your printed part will shrink slightly. In UltiMaker Cura, this shrinkage can be compensated by slightly enlarging your part.
Make sure to select a support material, as this will prevent sagging of your part during printing and annealing. We recommend to use self-support (Nylon CF Slide support) for annealing.
Place your Nylon CF Slide parts still attached to the build plate in the Binder (or other brand) oven. It is crucial that the parts have the same orientation in Z as during printing (so do not rotate or flip the parts in the oven). This will negatively affect the shrinkage.
Tip:Professional programmable annealing ovens such as Binder FP115 and Memmert UFP75plus are validated by UltiMaker and therefore recommended.
To determine the annealing time, measure the thickest section of your part. The annealing time in hours is the thickness in mm / 2. Let's say your part is 4 mm thick, then you would need to anneal the part for 2 hours at the annealing temperature.
Program your oven
A verified annealing profile for Nylon CF Slide sample of 4 mm thickness is depicted below. It is recommended to have a minimum of 10 hours at the maximum temperature (100°C) to achieve increased crystallization of the printed parts. Different annealing temperatures (Tc) can be decided upon based on property preferences, but it is advised to maintain heating/cooling ramps for optimal results. High-temperature annealing will therefore result in longer annealing times.
| Process | Duration (h) | Temp (°C) | Ramp (°C/h) |
|---|
| Start | (N/A) | 20 | (N/A) |
|---|
| Heat to Tg | 1 | 60 | 40 |
|---|
| Unstress | 1 | 65 | 5 |
|---|
| Heat to Tc | 1 | 100 | 35 |
|---|
| Anneal | 10 | 100 | (N/A) |
|---|
| Cool to Tg | 2 | 60 | - 40 |
|---|
| Cool to RT | 1 | 50 | - 30 |
|---|
| Total | 16 |
|---|
Once the object is cooled down and retrieved from the oven, the annealing process is completed, and the part is ready for use. Regular post processing methods like sanding, polishing, and coating can be applied if desired.
