| HS Code | 529146 |
| Brand | Polymaker |
| Product Name | PolyMide PA12-CF |
| Material | Carbon fiber reinforced polyamide 12 (PA12-CF) |
| Diameter Tolerance Mm | ±0.05 |
| Nozzle Temperature C | 280-300 |
| Bed Temperature C | 40-60 |
| Color | Black |
As an accredited Polymaker PolyMide™ PA12-CF 3D Printing Filament factory, we enforce strict quality protocols—every batch undergoes rigorous testing to ensure consistent efficacy and safety standards.
| Packing | One 1 kg spool of Polymaker PolyMide™ PA12-CF filament, moisture-barrier vacuum-sealed with desiccant in a printed cardboard box. |
| Container Loading (20′ FCL) | Container Loading (20′ FCL): palletized Polymaker PolyMide™ PA12-CF 3D printing filament spools/cartons, securely stowed and braced for safe ocean transport. |
| Shipping | Polymaker PolyMide™ PA12-CF 3D Printing Filament is not classified as dangerous goods for transport. UN number: none. Proper shipping name: 3D printing filament, non-hazardous. Hazard class: none. Packing group: N/A. Ship sealed with desiccant, avoiding moisture, heat, and direct sunlight. Standard parcel, air, and sea freight are acceptable. |
| Storage | Store Polymaker PolyMide PA12-CF filament in a sealed, airtight container or dry box with fresh desiccant. Keep in a cool, dry, dark place at 15–25°C, away from moisture, direct sunlight, heat, and ignition sources. Reseal promptly after use; if exposed, dry before printing. For best results, vacuum-seal or use moisture-absorbing packets, and monitor humidity. |
| Shelf Life | Polymaker PolyMide™ PA12-CF has a 12-month shelf life when sealed with desiccant, stored cool and dry, away from moisture and UV. |
In automotive sensor-bracket production, Polymaker PolyMide™ PA12-CF is used where glass-reinforced polyamide 12 injection-molded parts have been rejected during heat-soak testing at underhood temperatures. The filament is supplied with a fixed chopped-carbon-fiber content of 15 wt% dispersed in a polyamide 12 matrix; no post-printing fiber addition or masterbatch dilution is conducted on the production floor. For emission-relevant and vehicle life-cycle compliance, the material in these applications is evaluated against Directive 2000/53/EC Annex II restrictions for lead, cadmium, mercury, and hexavalent chromium, while part-level thermal validation typically follows ISO 16750-4:2010 temperature cycling profiles for road-vehicle electrical and electronic equipment. The downstream FFF process requires spool pre-drying at 70 °C for 8 h in a forced-air dryer with a dew point below -30 °C, followed by extrusion through a hardened steel or tungsten carbide nozzle at 260–290 °C, a build plate held at 80–100 °C, and an enclosed chamber maintained at 50–60 °C. Spools left outside a dry cabinet at ambient humidity above 50% RH are re-dried for the full 8 h cycle before printing. In production builds of larger sensor brackets, edge lifting appears when the chamber falls below 45 °C; the same geometry can print without lifting if the chamber is allowed to reach 50 °C before the first layer is deposited. Printed brackets with 40% gyroid infill and 4 perimeter walls are subsequently tapped for heat-set threaded inserts, and continuous exposure to engine coolant at temperatures above 90 °C has not been sufficiently characterized in published literature to permit qualification without component-level testing. Terminal finished parts include engine sensor brackets, ECU mounting plates, and cable-harness retention clips.
The replacement of machined 6061-T6 aluminum motor mounts on fixed-wing and multirotor airframes is evaluated through harmonic vibration testing because the chopped-fiber PA12 compound carries a fixed 15 wt% carbon loading, and the resulting tensile and flexural properties are anisotropic across the print Z axis. Airworthiness qualification for sub-25 kg unmanned aircraft systems in this application generally requires part-level test data generated under ASTM D638-14 for tensile properties and ASTM D790-17 for flexural modulus, with vibration profiles taken from MIL-STD-810H Method 514.8; no blanket aerospace-grade material certification applies to this filament. The production process on small-series UAS lines uses a direct-drive extruder with a hardened steel 0.4 mm or 0.6 mm nozzle, a 260–290 °C nozzle setpoint, a 80–100 °C bed, and a 50–60 °C chamber. Parts made with 6 perimeters and 100% rectilinear infill place each deposition line along the primary bending axis to reduce interlayer shear as the failure mode; support material is kept off external mating surfaces, and any internal channel uses a soluble support system compatible with the PolyMide™ compound. The 45 °C chamber threshold is a practical lower boundary observed in production builds: below this value, nylon 12 crystallization shrinkage produces measurable corner lift on motor-mount geometries longer than 120 mm, while above 60 °C the part surface can soften enough to damage overhang definition. Terminal parts in this sector include electric motor mounting plates, landing gear knee brackets, and antenna mast brackets for fixed-wing UAS airframes.
Robotic end-of-arm tooling represents the least temperature-sensitive of the PolyMide PA12-CF application envelope, and the material is applied primarily to custom gripper fingers, vacuum generator brackets, and small assembly fixtures. The compound is pre-compounded at a 15 wt% chopped-carbon-fiber loading; the print room cannot adjust the fiber fraction, so rigidity is controlled by infill geometry rather than formulation. Compliance for industrial robot tooling is covered at the integration level by ISO 10218-1:2025 for safety requirements and ISO 9409-1:2004 for mechanical interface dimensions. Printing is performed at 260–290 °C through a hardened steel nozzle, with a 80–100 °C bed and a 50–60 °C chamber; gripper jaws are printed with 50% triangular infill and 5 outer perimeters to resist clamping loads without producing excessive carbon-fiber wear on the nozzle. A recognized production constraint is that brass nozzles are incompatible because chopped carbon fiber erodes the bore, altering backpressure and first-layer bead width; hardened steel or tungsten carbide is mandatory for batch consistency. The terminal parts are custom robot gripper fingers for packaging lines, vacuum cup mounting plates, and lightweight assembly fixtures used in electronics assembly.
In naturally aspirated motorsport intake systems, the survival of a printed PA12-CF duct is governed by the combined load of thermal soak from the engine bay and low-frequency vibration transmitted through rigid mounting points. The filament contains 15 wt% chopped carbon fiber in a polyamide 12 matrix, and shrinkage during annealing is a critical process variable because the duct cross-section must remain within tolerance at the throttle-body interface. Qualification testing for non-structural motorsport components typically references ISO 178:2019 flexural modulus on printed coupons and ISO 75-2:2013 heat deflection temperature at 0.45 MPa; there is no FIA homologation pathway for printed nylon ducts unless the component is explicitly listed in the vehicle eligibility documentation. The production process includes spool drying at 70 °C for 8 h, deposition through a hardened steel 0.4 mm nozzle at 260–290 °C, a build plate at 80–100 °C, and a chamber held between 50 °C and 60 °C. Air-duct walls are printed with 4 perimeters and 40% cubic infill to balance surface stiffness against weight. Annealing is carried out at 80 °C for 4 h in a controlled-air oven, but the associated dimensional contraction is part-specific and must be measured before scaling the CAD model; published data for the contraction ratio of this specific geometry is limited, so production batches are checked on a coordinate measuring machine after the first article. Terminal parts include cold-air intake ducts, airbox extensions, and throttle-body adapters for track-use vehicles.
Medical device development groups direct this material only to non-implantable functional prototypes and short-run assembly aids because the material supplier does not provide a master file or biocompatibility statement that would cover long-term tissue contact. The polyamide 12 carrier is loaded with 15 wt% chopped carbon fiber, and this compounding ratio is fixed for all printed lots; prototypes used in laboratory testing are printed with 30% triangular infill and 3 perimeter walls to reduce mass without compromising handling integrity. The relevant compliance framework is ISO 10993-1:2018 for biological evaluation of medical devices, but the evaluation must be performed on the printed part rather than on raw filament; ISO 10993-5:2009 cytotoxicity testing is the first screening step for any material that contacts biological fluids. The downstream process for these prototypes uses a 0.4 mm hardened steel nozzle, nozzle temperature 260–290 °C, build plate 80–100 °C, and chamber temperature 50–60 °C; the printed parts are then dry-heat sterilized only if validated, because repeated steam autoclave exposure can induce additional crystallinity and dimensional drift that is not fully documented in the supplier technical data. Terminal parts include medical device housing prototypes, surgical instrument handle mock-ups, and benchtop assembly fixtures used in cleanroom line development.
Short-run injection mold tooling printed from PA12-CF is restricted to prototype cores and low-volume cavity inserts where steel tooling would impose unacceptable lead time. The printed tooling material contains 15 wt% chopped carbon fiber in a PA12 matrix, and the filament is used only as a complete feedstock; no regrind or process aid is added at the molding shop. Tool qualification is typically reviewed under ISO 294-1:2017 for injection molding shrinkage determination and DIN 16742:2013 for plastic moulded part tolerances, while the cooling-channel design must pass a leak check at the customer’s specified test pressure. The downstream process starts with FFF deposition through a hardened steel 0.4 mm nozzle at 260–290 °C, a 80–100 °C bed, and a 50–60 °C chamber; conformal channels are printed with 60% rectilinear infill around the waterline, and the part is sealed with an epoxy coating before being mounted in the mold base. Thermal conductivity of carbon-filled PA12 is lower than tool steel, and published data for the effective thermal conductivity of this printed configuration is limited; cooling performance must be validated with in-mold thermocouples under actual cycle conditions. Terminal parts are conformal cooling inserts for prototype polypropylene and ABS injection molds, low-volume cavity inserts, and replacement core inserts for bridge tooling.
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Polymaker PolyMide™ PA12-CF 3D Printing Filament is supplied as a chopped carbon-fiber-reinforced polyamide 12 compound for fused filament fabrication of load-bearing production aids, tooling, brackets, and short-run end-use parts. The product designation identifies a carbon-fiber-filled PolyMide PA12 matrix with lower equilibrium moisture uptake than PA6 or PA6/66 grades, which reduces processing instability in open-frame printers and humid plant-air environments. The filament is supplied as 1.75 mm diameter with vacuum-sealed packaging and desiccant storage. The carbon-fiber phase raises stiffness and creep resistance, but it also reduces fracture strain and increases abrasive wear on hot ends and drive mechanisms. The material is therefore specified for use with wear-resistant nozzles and dried before extrusion. Typical application contexts include inspection fixtures, robotic end-effector mounts, drilling jigs, assembly nests, and protective covers where higher modulus than unfilled PolyMide PA12 is required.
Moisture ingress in the PA12 matrix occurs primarily at amide functionalities, but the lower amide concentration of PA12 makes the resin less hygroscopic than PA6. Even so, filament exposed to ambient humidity above 50 % RH can acquire sufficient surface moisture to interfere with melt processing. The manufacturer-published drying recommendation is 70 °C for 8 h in a forced-air oven or vacuum dryer, followed by storage in a sealed dry box at <30 % RH. During extrusion above 260 °C, residual water hydrolyzes the polyamide chain, reducing molecular weight and generating volatiles that produce porosity, melt fracture, and reduced interlayer adhesion. The resulting loss of transverse tensile strength is measurable under ISO 527-2:2012 conditions. Moisture-related defects are more severe in carbon-fiber-filled PA12 than in unfilled PA12 because fiber ends and resin-fiber interfaces act as void nucleation sites when steam expands at the nozzle exit. A Karl Fischer check under ISO 15512:2019 can verify that the moisture content is below 0.2 %. Spools returned to ambient conditions for more than 1 h at elevated relative humidity may require re-drying, especially in coastal or unventilated production areas.
On open-frame Cartesian and CoreXY platforms, the recommended extrusion window is 260 °C to 290 °C at the nozzle, with bed temperatures between 25 °C and 50 °C. A heated chamber is not mandatory for the PA12 matrix, although large flat parts benefit from an enclosure held at 35 °C to 45 °C to reduce localized shrinkage. Print speed is typically limited to 30 mm/s to 60 mm/s for a 0.4 mm wear-resistant nozzle; higher speeds can exceed the melting capacity of standard hot ends and produce under-extrusion at high carbon-fiber loading. Retraction distances below 2 mm on direct-drive systems reduce fiber accumulation in the melt path, while bowden setups may require longer dry-out runs because of melt compression behavior. The extruder gear should use hardened steel or tungsten carbide teeth. Continuous filament breakage during feeding is commonly traced to spool binding, excessive idler tension, or a worn brass drive gear, and the failure mode is a characteristic notch at the filament surface.
Manufacturer-published values for dried and annealed specimens produced in the XY orientation include a density of approximately 1.13 g/cm³ under ISO 1183-1:2019, a tensile strength near 105 MPa under ISO 527-2:2012, a tensile modulus near 5.9 GPa, a flexural strength near 167 MPa under ISO 178:2019, and a heat deflection temperature of approximately 188 °C at 0.45 MPa under ISO 75-2:2013. The carbon-fiber phase increases shear viscosity and reduces die swell compared with unfilled PA12. Published data for this specific formulation at high shear rate is limited; melt-throughput limits should be verified on the target hot end. The carbon-fiber content may not be declared as a neat percentage in all regional compliance documents, but the material is classified as a filled polyamide compound for safety-data-sheet purposes. Post-annealing crystallinity changes can raise the tensile modulus further while lowering fracture strain. Because fiber orientation is strongly dependent on print direction, the reported XY values do not transfer directly to the Z-direction; interlayer strength may be 30 % to 50 % lower than in-plane strength because of limited polymer-chain diffusion across cooled surfaces.
Following deposition, a thermal post-treatment at 80 °C for 6 h in a forced-air oven is recommended to increase crystallinity and relax printing-induced stress. Parts should remain on the build plate or be placed in a fixture during annealing because the internal stress field can otherwise produce out-of-plane distortion. The annealed dimensional change is not isotropic; the largest deviation typically occurs along the Z-axis, while the carbon-fiber network constrains X-Y shrinkage to values below 0.5 %. For tight-tolerance assembly features, a machining allowance of 0.3 mm to 0.5 mm is applied before post-machining with cemented carbide tools. The heat resistance after annealing permits short-term low-load exposure to 150 °C, but continuous load-bearing use above 120 °C can reduce service life. Annealing also changes impact behavior; notched Izod values may decline as crystallinity increases, so thin-wall snap-fit parts should be evaluated under ISO 180:2019 after the full thermal history.
Because the chopped carbon-fiber phase has high hardness, brass nozzles are generally unsuitable for continuous runs. A hardened steel nozzle is the minimum service requirement; ruby-tipped or tungsten carbide nozzles reduce progressive orifice enlargement. Nozzle-wear failure modes appear first as widening of the extrusion track, loss of first-layer adhesion, and increasing dimensional error in holes or slots. On a production machine with a 0.4 mm hardened steel nozzle, inspection intervals are often set at 500 g to 1 kg of filament throughput, depending on filler loading and operating temperature. The extruder drive wheel can also show tooth wear after multiple spools, which causes periodic under-extrusion that may be mistaken for a clog. Abrasive debris from the filament can accumulate in the heat break; cold pulls with nylon cleaning filament are used to remove partially degraded polymer. Fiber breakage in the hot end can increase local viscosity and residence time, leading to thermal degradation above 290 °C and the release of low-molecular-weight compounds. The processing window is therefore bounded by moisture-related defects at the low end and thermal degradation of the nylon phase at the high end.
Relative to unfilled PolyMide PA12, the carbon-fiber grade exhibits higher tensile and flexural modulus, lower elongation at break, and higher creep resistance under sustained load. The trade-off is lower notched impact strength and higher melt viscosity. Compared with glass-fiber-reinforced PA6 or PA6/66 grades, PolyMide PA12-CF absorbs less moisture at equilibrium, which stabilizes electrical and dimensional properties in humid plant-air conditions. Published equilibrium moisture data for PA12 at 50 % RH are generally below 0.8 %, while PA6 grades can exceed 2.5 %. This lower equilibrium moisture reduces the extent of post-print warpage caused by uneven swelling and gives PA12-CF more consistent bed-adhesion behavior in non-heated enclosure environments. However, dry PA12-CF has a lower glass transition and lower room-temperature tensile strength than conditioned PA6-CF; applications requiring the highest short-term stiffness or surface hardness may not be appropriate. The PA12 matrix also offers better resistance to hydrocarbons and lower water absorption than PA6, but it is softened by polar solvents and strong acids. When substituting into an existing PA6-CF processing workflow, the bed temperature should be reduced and the drying protocol changed to account for the lower moisture uptake rate.
Inspection fixtures and assembly aids produced from PA12-CF are used where aluminum tooling is too heavy and printed unfilled nylon lacks rigidity. The material is dimensionally stable in temperature-controlled metrology rooms, and holes machined after printing hold location tolerances when the annealed part is allowed to equilibrate at 23 °C ± 2 °C and 50 % ± 10 % RH for 24 h per ISO 291:2008 conditioning. Robotic end-effector grips fabricated with PA12-CF can support part masses comparable to machined polymer tooling when the cross-sections are designed with 3-perimeter walls and 30 % to 40 % rectilinear infill. The carbon-fiber filler reduces the coefficient of linear thermal expansion to a value near 50 µm/m·°C in the printed plane, which is lower than unfilled PA12 and closer to aluminum but still above steel. For moving components, the abraded carbon-fiber surface can wear mating plastic parts; stainless steel bushings or hardened inserts are recommended at high-cycle interfaces.
Under automotive underhood and light industrial service, PA12-CF is used for brake-line clips, sensor brackets, and low-load fluid-line supports where PA6-CF may fail through moisture-induced dimensional change. The material is typically not specified for continuous immersion in hot coolant above 80 °C, because absorbed water and elevated temperature can hydrolyze the polyamide over extended service life. Published data for this specific configuration in coolant-water mixtures is limited; validation should follow ASTM D638-14 after immersion testing rather than extrapolating dry-room data. For electrical housings, the carbon-fiber filler creates some surface conductivity, but not a fully static-dissipative material; volume resistivity is inconsistent without a dedicated conductive formulation. Coating and adhesive bonding performance can be enhanced by surface abrasion and solvent wipe before assembly, but direct flame treatment may oxidize the nylon matrix and reduce local molecular weight. The filament is supplied with a safety data sheet that identifies the polyamide binder and carbon-fiber reinforcement; disposal of printed scrap should follow local filled-polymer waste procedures.
Rheological measurements of PA12-CF at printing temperatures show shear-thinning behavior, but the carbon-fiber network produces an apparent yield stress that can reduce flow through narrow channels. In a 0.4 mm nozzle at 280 °C, the volumetric flow limit is generally below that of unfilled PA12 because of filler-induced viscosity. Production accounts indicate that a 0.6 mm nozzle reduces extrusion pressure and allows higher print speeds, but it also weakens thin-wall feature resolution. The melt is less prone to die swell than unfilled PA12 because fiber alignment in the nozzle land suppresses elastic recovery. When printing parts with long bridging spans, the low melt viscosity can lead to sagging, so cooling fans at 20 % to 50 % speed are used after the first layers. The exact fan setting interacts with layer time and ambient temperature; published data for this configuration is limited, and process validation on the target machine is required.
Shrinkage of annealed PA12-CF is anisotropic and primarily governed by fiber orientation in the deposited road direction. Unfilled PA12 may reach shrinkage values above 1 % after annealing, whereas the carbon-fiber network restrains in-plane shrinkage to a fraction of this. Z-axis shrinkage remains higher because fiber orientation is predominantly in the X-Y plane and the polymer-rich interfaces between layers contract during crystallization. Build-plate adhesion on glass or PEI can be adequate at bed temperatures near 30 °C to 40 °C; above 50 °C, the bottom layer may remain too soft and deform under extruder pressure. For large flat parts, a brim or raft can reduce corner lifting, but tabs or ears must be machined off after annealing to avoid stress concentration. Warpage is also influenced by part geometry: long thin walls with asymmetric infill can produce twist after cooling, and mirroring the toolpath in alternating layers reduces the curl tendency.
Supports generated for PA12-CF should be removed before annealing if the support interface has high surface area; post-anneal removal is more difficult because the material stiffens. The filament is compatible with breakaway support structures, but dissolvable supports based on PVA are generally not suitable at the required nozzle temperatures because PVA degrades above 200 °C. When using soluble support, the support filament must be rated for the same chamber and nozzle conditions. Batch-to-batch color variation is minimal because the carbon-fiber filler masks the natural nylon color, but mechanical properties can vary with spool lot and drying history. Incoming inspection should record the spool lot, the measured filament diameter at five positions per spool, and the moisture content before release to production. The manufacturer datasheet and safety data sheet revisions should be checked before changing process settings.
