Materials, whether for 3D printing or other applications, can exhibit a number of properties.  Each property plays a role in design and the given application.  Here’s a quick primer on common material properties you will find for 3D printing applications.

1. Tensile Strength. Tensile strength indicates how much tension a material can undergo before breaking. A material’s tensile strength indicates the ultimate strength of a part made from that material.  High tensile strength is important for structural, load bearing, and mechanical parts.

2. Young’s Modulus. This material property is an indication of stiffness; how resistance a material is to stretching under tension. The less stiff a material is, the more flexible it is.  Depending on the application, designers may want high or low modulus.

 

3. This material property shows how resistance a material is to breaking or when it is stretched.  It can be used to determine how much deformation it can handle before breaking.

4. Flexural strength. How much can a material bend before it breaks? The property shows the strength of a material when being bent. It also indicates the isotropic properties of the material, i.e., how homogeneous the material is.

5. Flexural modulus. This property shows how much load a material can handle before it bends.  Depending on the application need, it indicates stiffness or flexibility of the material.

6. Flexural strength. This property is the ability of a material to absorb shock and impact without breaking. It indicates how likely a part is to survive being dropped or crashed into another object.  It indicates toughness.

 

7. Shore Hardness. How much deformation a material can resist.  Primarily used with rubber and elastomer materials it indicates the softness of a material.

8. Compression set. This property shows the amount of permanent deformation you can expect from a material that has been compressed.  It tells whether a material will regain its original shape.

9. Tear strength. This property measures how resistance a material is to a rip or tear continuing to grow when the material is under tension. It is primarily used on flexible materials like rubber and elastomers.  It can also indicate resistance to abrasion.  Photo source:  https://plastics.ulprospector.com/properties/astmd624

• Water absorption. Shows how much water a material can absorb. Typically this property comes into play when processing raw material, such as thermoplastics, as too much water absorption can alter the material properties.

 

• Heat deflection temperature. The temperature that will deform material under load. This property indicates whether a material suits high temperature applications.

• Vicat softening point. This is a measurement used for materials with no definite melting point. It indicates the temperature at which a material will become noticeably soft.

 

• Thermal expansion. Some materials expand or contract with a change in temperature, which may be important in a design.