Best material for high impact?

[kanningphish]

I'm looking to print objects that would traditionally be produced with high impact plastics. What would be the best material to use for this? I have both an FDM and SLA printer at my disposal.

[jimc]

in the fdm world nylon and pet are the best for high impact. under that is abs.

[DrLuigi]

Isnt poly carbonate better than Nylon?

[atoff]

hmm... what about HIPS (High Impact Polystyrene)?

[doodadDoes]

Does someone have any spec sheets for Polycarbonate filament? This would be dependent on the manufacturer of course, but I'd wager that Polycarb would be a top contender.

[KDog]

My vote is for nylon. It is slightly flexible which would indicate it is less brittle than polycarbonate.

[jimc]

polycarb isnt high impact. its is strong for sure but it will stress crack and shatter easily. polycarb is basically unprintable also without a heated chamber. it shrinks even worse than nylon so the warping is absolutely nuts with the stuff. as for hips, it is basically abs with one of the elements removed so it would fall just under abs in the list.

[GeoM528]

“Isnt poly carbonate better than Nylon?”

I can’t tell for now, I haven’t used poly carbonate. But hats off to nylon filament; this is a very strong material compared to any other material I’ve tried. I have ordered PLA and HIPS a few weeks ago at 3d2print, these two are truly high impact polystyrenes which can be used on its own or as support material. So far HIPS is my bet."