3D Printing Materials

PETG

At a glance

Process

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)

Lead Time

As fast as 2 days

Colors

Black, white, neutral

Resolution

0.2 mm

Price

$$

Applications

Mechanical early-stage prototypes

About the material

PETG (Polyethylene terephthalate glycol) is a useful 3D printing material for mechanical early-stage prototypes. It’s a great option that merges the cost-effectiveness of PLA and functionality of ABS. Although not ideal for aesthetics, this material is known for its impact resistance, warpage resistance, low shrinkage rate and high head deflection temperature. Printers typically run at a slower speed for this material, so it does have improved tolerance capabilities considering it’s a hobbyist-level material.

Material Properties

Tensile Strength

45.8 MPa

Elongation at Break

18%

Modulus of Elasticity

2100 MPa (304579 PSI)

Flexural Strength

77 MPa (11167 PSI)

Material Finish

PETG prints with a relatively smooth surface, but is not the most ideal for aesthetics.

Support is typically more difficult to remove from PETG parts than PLA parts, so scarring is very common. This material also has a tendency to ooze and clump around a printer nozzle. As a result, stray hairs and very small blobs may also appear along a surface, typically at the beginning or end of the layer path.

Design Recommendations

Max Part Size [x, y, z]

304 x 304 x 600 mm

Min Clearance + Gaps for Fit

0.5 mm

Min Wall Thickness

1 mm
  • This material has poor bridging abilities, so we recommend avoiding large gaps between areas that don’t require support
  • PETG is generally better for simple geometries

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN

A Guide to Prototyping Materials for Medical Devices

“Medical device” is a broad umbrella term that covers a huge variety of apparatus and equipment, such as Band-Aids, dental floss, blood pressure cuffs, defibrillators, MRI scanners, and much, much more. It’s probably no surprise that medical device design constitutes a major segment of the field of mechanical engineering, especially in the U.S., which is […]

Learn More

How to Read Material Data Sheets

To most people, plastics might seem all the same, but to an engineer, plastics come in families, have cousin materials, and have other materials that are as different as cats are from dogs. Of course, our clients expect us to worry about these details, and as nerds, the minute differences between materials are a source […]

Learn More