Filament Guide
Compare the heat deflection temperatures (HDT) of everyday, engineering and industrial 3D printing filaments before and after annealing.
HDT measures short-term deformation under load. Compare values at the same test load. Filament drying removes moisture before printing. Annealing is an optional heat treatment applied to the printed part. The columns describe how the printed test specimens were prepared.
| Filament | Category | Without annealing | After annealing | Treatment unspecified | Glass transition (Tg) | Independent tests Deformation |
Retailers | Source / test notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.45 MPa | 1.8 MPa | 0.45 MPa | 1.8 MPa | 0.45 MPa | 1.8 MPa | ||||||
Reading the table
0.45 MPa and 1.8 MPa are the two test loads. HDT can be considerably lower at the higher load.
After annealing shows HDT measured after heat-treating the printed sample. See the source for the test conditions and any recommended annealing procedure.
Treatment unspecified means the source reports HDT without identifying whether the sample was annealed. Measurements with a different or unspecified test load, and values for injection-moulded specimens, appear beside their source. A dash means no value is displayed.
Glass transition (Tg) is the temperature at which the polymer's amorphous regions become more mobile. The guide hides Tg values below 0 °C. The Independent label identifies a measurement from an independent test and links to its source.
The Independent tests column shows deformation temperatures measured with the linked test setups. Compare results within the same setup. These setups differ from standard HDT and Tg measurements. The > and ≥ symbols indicate lower limits from tests stopped before a definite deformation point was reached. Turn on Show annealed HDT to reveal these results for annealed specimens as well.
Where a material row names a measured product, the temperatures apply to that product. The retailer column can also include other products in the same material family.