What if you could manufacture parts that are stronger, lighter, and faster to produce than ever before? Carbon fiber 3D printing makes this possible. Thanks to this solution, you can get components that last and truly excel. With a large carbon fiber 3D printer, you can produce high-quality components for multiple industries and various purposes that will serve for many years to come, helping you achieve your business goals more efficiently.

Read on below to see how carbon fiber can benefit your manufacturing business and learn about the unique properties of CF filaments.

Why Do You Need Carbon Fiber 3D Printing?

Industrial environments often demand specific mechanical properties and finely tuned precision. Fortunately, by combining the capabilities of a high-strength material with the many advantages of additive manufacturing, carbon fiber 3D printing offers exceptional dimensional stability in strong, stiff parts with a fine surface finish and a high heat deflection temperature—ideal for functional, high-performance applications.

With 3D printing moving ever deeper into end-use production, the ability to manufacture both parts and tooling using carbon fiber filaments is increasing in demand.

Whether using these materials in molds, jigs, fixtures, tooling high-performance race cars, specialty aerospace equipment, or professional cycling equipment, carbon fiber 3D printer filament enables you to create the high-strength parts you need.

Of course, as a relatively new offering in the manufacturing industry, carbon fiber 3D printing may have many pros, but it's also worth being aware of the printing requirements before you get started.

What Is Carbon Fiber 3D Printing?

Carbon fiber 3D printing is an advanced additive manufacturing process that uses 3D printing filaments that are reinforced with carbon fibers and integrates carbon fiber filaments into 3D-printed materials to significantly increase the strength, stiffness, and durability of the final product.

These filaments are typically infused with short, chopped carbon fibers or continuous carbon fiber strands, creating composites that retain carbon fiber's lightweight properties while offering exceptional mechanical performance.

Thanks to an industrial carbon fiber 3D printer, it's possible to produce components of similar or even higher quality than traditionally manufactured parts that are less expensive, faster to make, and more flexible for customization.

What are Carbon Fiber Filaments?

Carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP) bring together the qualities and performance properties of carbon fiber with the polymer material they are reinforcing. Printability and ease of use of a standard thermoplastic like PLA, ABS, or PET gains superior performance properties by including carbon fiber content.

Chopped fibers are mostly used for industrial production and also 3D printing. These carbon fibers come as a "filler" material in thermoplastic materials for injection molding or as carbon fiber filaments to use in 3D printers. They can be processed like any other thermoplastic material. But they have extra requirements which will be explained later on.

FFF (extrusion-based) 3D printing uses chopped carbon fibers. These small fibers are then mixed into a standard thermoplastic as a reinforcing material.

Properties of Carbon Fiber Filaments

The advantages of carbon fiber 3D printing come down to their performance properties:

High Strength

Perhaps the most-touted property of carbon fiber 3D printer filament, high strength is key to its performance — and desirability as a 3D printing material. Carbon fiber offers a strength-to-weight ratio that enables high performance with low density.

Dimensional Stability

Carbon fiber's high strength and stiffness lessen the tendency for part shrinkage and warping, contributing to its excellent dimensional stability upon usage. This is essential for parts that require precise dimensions and tight tolerances.

Light Weight

Being light weight and strong is a key advantage of 3D printing with the material, and using carbon fiber materials enables weight reduction without a loss of performance-grade strength.

High Heat Deflection Temperature

Compared to standard 3D printing materials like PLA, ABS, and PETG, carbon fiber filaments can withstand significantly higher temperatures. Carbon fiber composite materials — such as BigRep's PA12 CF — enhance the heat deflection temperature of the base material for better performance at elevated temperatures.

Less Post-Processing Required

CF filaments make layer lines less noticeable. This gives you better surface quality and haptics, reducing the need for any post-processing operations such as sanding.

Stiffness

3D-printed carbon fiber parts maintain their shape under high stress. In contrast with other materials that trade off strength and durability for stiffness, the rigidity possible with carbon fiber ensures structural integrity.

How Carbon Fiber Filaments Work in 3D Printing

Carbon fiber filaments are engineered by combining carbon fibers with a base polymer, such as PLA, PETG, or nylon, creating a composite material adjusted for additive manufacturing.

During the 3D printing process, these filaments are extruded layer by layer, with the embedded carbon fibers enhancing the mechanical properties of the printed part.

Depending on the type of carbon fiber used (chopped fibers for general reinforcement or continuous fibers for maximum strength), these filaments offer improved strength, reduced weight, and exceptional resistance to deformation.

Requirements to Work with Carbon Fiber Filaments

Carbon fiber filament is more abrasive than many other materials and has specific heat requirements. As is typically the case with engineering-grade materials, they cannot simply be swapped out for standard 3D printer filament and be expected to print with the same settings.

1. Heated Print Bed

Hand-in-hand with an enclosed 3D printing environment is a heated print bed, which is crucial to ensure that the first print layer adheres to the print bed. Without this strong foundation, the success of the remaining print layers may be compromised.

2. Hardened Nozzle

Over time — which can vary from one to a few print jobs — carbon fiber filament will wear down a standard 3D printing nozzle due to its abrasiveness. A brass nozzle, for example, will wear out when extruding these materials and will ultimately be rendered functionally useless. Hardened steel is a requirement for a 3D printer to handle CF filament.

Of course, designers, engineers, and operators working with any CF-inclusive project must all be well-trained in the requirements for working with carbon fiber filaments. Training and upskilling must be considered when considering bringing CF filaments into operations.

3. Print Orientation

The addition of CF increases tensile strength but when managed incorrectly it can lead to a reduction in layer adhesion. To compensate for the material's low ductility, orient the part in the direction of the stress or the load.  This can be adjusted during the orientation of the part in a slicing software such as BLADE.

Challenges of Carbon Fiber 3D Printing

Despite multiple advantages, producing elements with even the best carbon fiber 3D printer comes with possible challenges. Here are some of the most important ones:

• Brittleness and Rigidity: Compared to elements made from other 3D printing filaments, carbon fiber components are typically more rigid and brittle. Even though they are impressively strong, they are less flexible than more ductile materials and can be more likely to crack under impact.
• Higher Price: Carbon fiber 3D printer filaments can be more expensive than standard thermoplastic materials, making them less accessible for organizations with limited budgets.
• Conductivity Problems: As carbon fibers are conductive, they can pose certain challenges in applications requiring electronic elements.
• Abrasiveness: The carbon fibers in the filament can be highly abrasive, quickly wearing down standard printer nozzles and components. For this reason, it is essential to use hardened steel or specialty nozzles for higher durability.
• Health and Safety Risks: Carbon fiber can produce fine dust and fumes in the printing process, which requires proper ventilation and personal protective equipment (PPE).

Where are CF Filaments used?

Carbon Fiber materials are commonly used for molds, jigs and fixtures, and tooling.

Composite Molds & Thermoforming Molds

3D printed molds are one of the most cohesive ways advanced and traditional manufacturing technologies work together in an industrial environment. 3D printed molds offer the complexities and speed of production of 3D printing to the mass production capabilities of mold-based manufacturing. When it comes to composite molds and thermoforming molds, the performance properties of CF materials are a natural fit.

Composite molds are one of the most common manufacturing methods for cost-effectively producing large batches of identical parts. As their name implies, composite molds are made using composite materials, which can be made in complex shapes and stand up to repeated use — all at a significantly lower cost than aluminum or steel molds.

Thermoforming molds use heat and pressure to shape a flat thermoplastic sheet into a form using conduction, convection, or radiant heating to warm the sheet before conforming it to the mold’s surface. Thermoforming molds must stand up to repeated high-heat usage, requiring specific performance capabilities that can be well delivered via CF materials.

Jigs, Fixtures, and Tooling

Jigs, fixtures, and tooling are often viewed as supplemental to manufacturing processes but vital in their own right, as they are used in milling, drilling, and other subtractive operations. Jigs and fixtures hold specific parts in place throughout different stages of manufacturing, and tooling is used throughout.

These all-important tools often perform best when customized to the application at hand and may be worn out through highly repetitive use. For these reasons, jigs, fixtures, and tooling are increasingly 3D printed on-site. They can be custom-fitted to their specific need and reproduced on demand without outsourcing or waiting to be restocked.

When made of reinforced materials like CF filaments, 3D printed jigs and fixtures, and tooling last longer and perform better — especially in terms of long-lasting durability. You can learn more about replacing high-cost CNC milling with agile, cost-saving solutions for low-volume production here.

Automotive and Aerospace Industries

Carbon fiber's design freedom allows you to realize complex geometries that are not cost-effective with traditional methods. This design freedom enables you to rapidly iterate and then, due to its increased stiffness and temperature stability, create more functional prototypes.

The enhanced aesthetics of the object, including complex curvature achieved with 3D printing and better surface quality with CF filaments, can open up innovation in automotive, aerospace, and other related industries.

Carbon Fiber Filaments: Types and Comparison

BigRep offers two carbon-filled filaments: PA12 CF, a nylon carbon fiber, and HI-TEMP CF, a bio-based, carbon fiber-filled polymer. Here are some of the most important differences between them:

Conclusion

When you decide to try out the capabilities of a 3D carbon fiber printer, you’re committing to an endeavor that requires significant attention to parameters and specialized equipment and requirements.

When those conditions are fulfilled, you can produce best-in-class lightweight, durable, functional parts that can stand up to a variety of industrial uses with all the complexity in design that 3D printing has to offer.