ProtoPasta Conductive PLA???

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03-22-2015, 08:31 PM
DavidS

ProtoPasta Conductive PLA???

The new conductive filament from ProtoPasta looks like it may be good. The one problem is that they give conductivity per cm, and they do not specify the trace width they use to obtain that number (the standard measure of conductivity per square (for surface conductive materials), or per qube (for volume conductive materials) would be nice and tell people much more.

So is there any better information on this material? Anywhere?

30 ohms per cm is meaningless in and of itself, now 30 ohms per square (does not mater size, a square unit of surface conductive material will always be the same given the same material), or per qube would mean something.

Also what about the thermal conductivity (important to know if dealing with traces carrying any amount of current or with any AC properties to the current being carried).

I am tempted to pre order, though I do not want to waste money. There are a few simple PCB projects that this stuff could be useful for if it is 30cm per square, and has decent thermal conductivity (good enough for some 3.3v 100MHz MCU boards).

So does anyone know about this material? Is it worth a preorder?
03-23-2015, 02:53 AM
Mjolinor

It says on their website 15 ohm cm which isn't the SI unit but it is the correct format.

One has to assume they mean resistivity but I do think that is implied.

As you say 1 m^3 or 1 cm^3, makes no difference to the resistivity figure.
03-23-2015, 05:36 AM
DavidS

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mjolinor

It says on their website 15 ohm cm which isn't the SI unit but it is the correct format.

One has to assume they mean resistivity but I do think that is implied.

As you say 1 m^3 or 1 cm^3, makes no difference to the resistivity figure.

Ah ok, do per qubic volume. I had never seen it given as a particular unit of measure (as that is meaningless).
03-23-2015, 01:55 PM
Wolfie

Its 30ohm-cm not 15. The 15 figure is for molded, I am presuming the OP intends on 3D printing with it. It also states 115 ohm-cm for intra-layer resistance. So you would have to factor that in with any current calculations. Simply printing two layers doesn't mean they are truely additive as far as cross sectional density goes.
03-23-2015, 01:59 PM
Mjolinor

I just had a quick look at the site and saw the 15, didn't bother reading it. Until it gets significantly lower it isn't much use to me.

The unpredictability of it will make it even worse to design with. The resistance you end up with is plenty low enough for any FET circuits but the variability will be a real killer to reliability.
03-23-2015, 08:34 PM
DavidS

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mjolinor

I just had a quick look at the site and saw the 15, didn't bother reading it. Until it gets significantly lower it isn't much use to me.The unpredictability of it will make it even worse to design with. The resistance you end up with is plenty low enough for any FET circuits but the variability will be a real killer to reliability.

I must agree with that. It will be interesting to play with at least. And as far as I have seen so far it seems to be the best conductive PLA or ABS available so far.I am hoping that something significantly better comes before long, though at least this stuff (if it meets its claims), will be enough to do some PCB's with, unlike the others I have seen. Yes it will still have some significant limits, though part of the fun is learning how to work around the limits.