There’s a dizzying number of specialist 3D printing materials out there, some of which do try to offer an alternative to PLA, PA6, ABS, etc., while others are happy to stay in their own niche. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is one of these materials, with the [My Tech Fun] YouTube channel recently getting sent a spool of PVDF for testing, which retails for a cool $188.
Reading the specifications and datasheet for the filament over at the manufacturer’s website it’s pretty clear what the selling points are for this material are. For the chemists in the audience the addition of fluoride is probably a dead giveaway, as fluoride bonds in a material tend to be very stable. Hence PVDF ((C2H2F2)n) sees use in applications where strong resistance to aggressive chemicals as well as hydrolysis are a requirement, not to mention no hygroscopic inclinations, somewhat like PTFE and kin.
In the video’s mechanical testing it was therefore unsurprising that other than abrasion resistance it’s overall worse and more brittle than PA6 (nylon). It was also found that printing this material with two different FDM printers with the required bed temperature of 110°C was somewhat rough, with some warping and a wrecked engineering build plate in the Bambu Lab printer due to what appears to be an interaction with the usual glue stick material. Once you get the print settings dialed in it’s not too complicated, but it’s definitely not a filament for casual use.
Could you use it to 3D print a beehive that doesn’t leech turpentine into honey?
If you prefer fluoride based forever chemicals, yes. Hurry up before it is banned.
If honey contains fluoride compounds then it’s actually good for your teeth. Chlorinated plastics on the other hand are VERY nasty.
Chemist here…
Microplastics and forever chemicals in one convenient (albeit expensive) package for the homegamer?
This does look like it would have interesting properties, but I’ll not be printing this in my basement setup!
It might technically work, but I’m not sure that you want little bits of PVDF in your honey either.
It’s not one of the “bad” fluorine-based plastics – although it’s made from PFAS monomers, it’s not itself a PFAS, and it’s used for water filtration membranes and such – but regardless, there are probably better, cheaper options. You don’t need the extreme chemical resistance and thermal stability of PVDF just to build a beehive.
How “pure” are the plastics in these filaments?
A filament may be ASA for example, but what is added to it to give it consistent and stable colour, to help it stick to itself, to flow through nozzles without sticking and to improve its behaviour around its melting point?