3D Printing InfoFilament comparison
BVOH vs PC-CF
Compare printing settings, strength, heat resistance, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
| Property | BVOH (soluble support)SUPPORT | Carbon-fibre PC (PC-CF)PC |
|---|---|---|
| Market snapshot | ||
| Listing priceUSD/kg; dated snapshots | $165.72/kg median; $165.72–$165.72/kg across 1 dated product listings | $62.58/kg median; $34.99–$117.33/kg across 6 dated product listings |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Base polymer / chemistry | Butenediol vinyl alcohol copolymer — a vinyl alcohol copolymer that dissolves faster and in cooler water than straight PVA[1] | Polycarbonate reinforced with chopped carbon fibre[2][3] |
| Densityg/cm³ | Not documented | 1.22 (Prusament) and 1.36 (3DXTech), ISO 1183[2][3] |
| Typical priceUSD/kg | 1 kg-equivalent spools cluster near 166[1] | 1 kg-equivalent spools span 35–117; the middle of the market is about 63[4][5][6][7][8] |
| Price range across brandsUSD/kg | 166 at Fiberlogy's 500 g pricing on 3DJake[1] | 35–117 across brands; Ambrosia 35, IEMAI 39, YXPOLYER 55, Spectrum PC CF 70, Prusament 94, 3DXTech 117[4][5][6][7][8] |
| Market availability1–5 | Niche, a handful of specialist brands[1] | Available from several mainstream brands[4][6][9] |
| Spool sizes & diameters | 1.75 and 2.85 mm; 0.5 kg spools[1] | 1.75 and 2.85 mm; 0.75, 0.8 and 1 kg spools[4][6] |
| Typical applications | Dissolvable support where PVA dissolves too slowly, and for materials PVA bonds to poorly[1] | Stiff high-temperature structural parts — jigs, drone frames and under-bonnet brackets[2][3] |
| Diameter tolerance± mm | Not documented | ±0.04 (Prusament PC Blend Carbon Fiber)[2] |
| Printing Parameters | ||
| Nozzle temperature°C | Not documented | 285 ± 10 (Prusament)[2] |
| Bed temperature°C | Not documented | 110 ± 10 (Prusament)[2] |
| Enclosure / chamber requirement1–5 | Open frame is fine[10] | Enclosure required (passive)[2][11] |
| Part cooling fan | Not documented | Off — Prusa allows 0–20 % and warns cooling significantly reduces interlayer adhesion[2] |
| Bed surface & adhesion aid | Not documented | PEI with a glue stick or a commercial adhesive[12] |
| Warping tendency1–5 | Not documented | High — enclosure needed for reliable large parts; the fibre reduces warping against unfilled PC[2][11] |
| Bed-adhesion difficulty1–5 | Not documented | Needs a specific surface plus adhesive[12][13] |
| Stringing / oozing tendency1–5 | Not documented | Moderate — retraction tuning needed; Polymaker flags stringing as a common PC problem[13] |
| Overall printing difficulty1–5 | Intermediate — dry filament and a tuned profile[14] | Advanced — enclosure, hardware upgrades, tuning; hardened nozzle mandatory[11][2] |
| Extruder requirement | A second extruder or a tool changer[10] | Not documented |
| Hardware Wear & Reliability | ||
| Nozzle hardness required1–4 | Brass fine indefinitely[10] | Hardened steel required[11] |
| Abrasiveness1–5 | Non-abrasive[10] | Highly abrasive — standard CF composite[11] |
| Nozzle clog risk1–5 | Very high — frequent jams without careful setup[14] | High — jams from moisture, heat creep or particles; PC already absorbs water from the air and 3DXTech adds a hardened 0.4 mm minimum nozzle, 0.25 mm layers and a 120 °C pre-dry[15][12][16] |
| Heat-creep / jam sensitivity1–5 | Not documented | Slightly sensitive[12] |
| Hotend requirement | Not documented | All-metal hot end required (Simplify3D)[12] |
| Moisture Behaviour | ||
| Moisture absorption (hygroscopicity)1–5 | Very high (>2 %) — the vinyl alcohol backbone is what makes it soluble[14][10] | Low (0.1–0.3 %) — the PC matrix takes up 0.15–0.25 % and 3DXTech specifies a 120 °C, 4 h pre-dry[17][18][15] |
| Equilibrium moisture content at ~50 % RH% | Not documented | 0.11 after 7 days at 24 °C / 22 % RH (Prusa Polymers)[2] |
| Symptoms when wet | Not documented | Bubbling and popping at the nozzle, stringing and a rough surface[14] |
| Effect of moisture on strength | Not a structural material; no dry-versus-conditioned data is published[14] | No dry-versus-conditioned figures are published. Polymaker calls PC highly hygroscopic and requires a 70–80 °C dry for 6–8 h; run wet, the loss shows as surface defects and poor layer adhesion[13][14] |
| Storage requirement | Sealed with desiccant at all times[14] | Airtight containers with desiccant to prevent reabsorption[13] |
| Mechanical Properties | ||
| Tensile strength (XY)MPa | Not documented | 64 ± 3 printed horizontal and 70 ± 3 printed vertical at yield, ISO 527-1 (Prusament); 3DXTech quotes 73 at break[2][3] |
| Young's modulusMPa | Not documented | 2600 printed horizontal and 3200 printed vertical, ISO 527-1 (Prusament); 3DXTech quotes 6980[2][3] |
| Elongation at break% | Not documented | 4.6 at yield printed horizontal (Prusament); 3DXTech quotes 2.1 at break[2][3] |
| Flexural strengthMPa | Not documented | 94 ± 3 printed horizontal and 130 ± 2 printed vertical, ISO 178 (Prusament); 3DXTech quotes 85[2][3] |
| Flexural modulusMPa | Not documented | 3500 printed horizontal and 4200 printed vertical, ISO 178 (Prusament); 3DXTech quotes 6540[2][3] |
| Charpy impact, notchedkJ/m² | Not documented | 12 ± 1 printed horizontal and 17 ± 2 printed vertical, ISO 179-1 notched (Prusament)[2] |
| Other impact data | Not documented | Charpy unnotched 32 ± 5 printed horizontal and 35 ± 4 printed vertical (Prusament, ISO 179-1)[2] |
| Layer adhesion / Z tensileMPa | Not documented | 23 ± 2 (Prusa Polymers interlayer adhesion test) — above the 21 ± 2 of unfilled Prusament PC Blend[2][18] |
| Brittleness1–5 | Not documented | Moderate[2][3] |
| Hardness (scale-specific)Shore A / Shore D / Rockwell | Not documented | 83 Shore D (Prusa Polymers method), against 79 for unfilled Prusament PC Blend[2][18] |
| Creep resistance / sustained load1–5 | Not documented | Excellent — holds load for years. Room-temperature tensile creep of moulded unfilled PC ran unbroken at 41 MPa until the test was stopped; short carbon fibre raises the flexural modulus from about 2.1 to 3.5-6.5 GPa, which reduces creep strain further[19][2] |
| Fatigue / repeated-flex resistance1–5 | Not documented | Good. No fatigue test data was found for a carbon-fibre PC filament; the unfilled polymer is rated Good on the same scale[19] |
| Elasticity / flexibility1–5 | Not documented | Rigid[2] |
| Thermal Properties | ||
| HDT at 0.45 MPa°C | Not documented | 114 (ISO 75, 0.45 MPa, Prusament)[2] |
| HDT at 1.8 MPa°C | Not documented | 106 (ISO 75, 1.8 MPa, Prusament), against 93 for unfilled Prusament PC Blend[2][18] |
| Glass transition (Tg)°C | Not documented | 127 (3DXTech, DSC)[3] |
| Continuous service temperature°C | Not documented | 113 — Prusa publishes this as the temperature resistance of Prusament PC Blend[18] |
| Environment & Chemical | ||
| UV resistance1–5 | Not documented | Degrades within weeks outdoors unless stabilised[13] |
| Chemical resistance | Not documented | Withstands oils, solvents and fuels; Polymaker rates it good against weak acids[13] |
| Water / humidity resistance in service1–5 | Dissolves or disintegrates — by design[1] | Not documented |
| Food contact | Not documented | Bisphenol-A polycarbonate is not offered as food-contact filament[13] |
| Biodegradability / compostability | Not documented | Not biodegradable[13] |
| Recyclability | Not documented | Mechanically recyclable but not accepted in household plastic collection[13] |
| Electrical & ESD properties | Not documented | Surface resistance above 10⁹ ohm/sq — not static-dissipative (3DXTech, ASTM D257)[3] |
| Health & Safety | ||
| Fume toxicity1–5 | Low hazard — minimal VOC and particle emission; none of these materials was in the chamber study[20] | Moderate — measurable VOCs and UFPs, ventilation advised[20] |
| Ultrafine-particle emission rateparticles/min | Not documented | ≈4 × 10¹⁰ median — the highest ultrafine-particle rate of the nine filaments in the chamber study, above every ABS tested[20] |
| Ventilation / filtration requirement1–5 | Open a window / occasional ventilation[20] | Ventilated room or enclosure recommended[20][11] |
| Dust & fibre handling hazard | Not documented | Carbon fibre is bound in the matrix; sanding dust should not be inhaled[3] |
| Post-Processing | ||
| Sanding & machining | Not documented | Sands and machines well; the toughness means it cuts rather than chips[12] |
| Gluing & solvent welding | Not documented | Cyanoacrylate; dichloromethane solvent-welds PC but is a laboratory reagent[12] |
| Vapour / chemical smoothing | Not documented | No practical vapour smoothing[12] |
| Support material pairing | This is the support material[1] | Prints its own supports; 3DXTech sells a dedicated PC break-away support[12] |
| Solvents & Solubility | ||
| Soluble in | Water: about 1 g of BVOH per 20 g of water, several hours; warmer water is faster but must not be too hot.[21][1] | Dichloromethane and chloroform dissolve the matrix and leave the fibre; DMF and dioxane do the same (Covestro).[22] |
| Softened or crazed by | Nothing else — a vinyl alcohol copolymer resists organic solvents, so IPA or acetone will not touch it.[23] | Methanol, butyl acetate, ether, 1 % NaOH and phthalate plasticisers stress-crack it; acetone, MEK and xylene swell it.[22] |
| Solvent welding & smoothing agent | None — water is a removal solvent, not a welding one.[21] | Dichloromethane cement welds the resin, but the fibre keeps the joint from flowing closed. Controlled carcinogen.[24] |
Material entries describe families or representative grades, not an interchangeable specification for every spool. Test methods, orientations and conditions may differ. Unknown values are marked “Not documented”. Prices and source dates remain historical snapshots; check the linked guide for product details. Differences highlight text, not a universal winner.
Sources for this comparison
- Fiberlogy BVOH Natural — product page 3DJake International · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusament PC Blend Carbon Fiber Technical Datasheet v2.0 Prusa Polymers · 2023-04 · tds
- CarbonX Carbon Fiber ezPC Polycarbonate Technical Data Sheet 3DXTech · 2026-08 · tds
- Printed Solid product catalogue Printed Solid · 2026-08 · vendor
- Spectrum PC CF Carbon Black, 1.75 mm / 250 g 3DJAKE · 2026-08 · vendor
- 3DXTech product catalogue 3DXTech · 2026-08 · vendor
- IEMAI CF-PC 3D Printing Filament product page IEMAI 3D · 2026-08 · vendor
- YXPOLYER PC CF product page YXPOLYER · 2026-08 · vendor
- Filastruder product catalogue Filastruder · 2026-08 · vendor
- PolyDissolve S1 Technical Data Sheet V5.4 Polymaker · 2024-11 · tds
- ABS / ASA / PC Usage Guide Bambu Lab Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- Polycarbonate — Ultimate 3D Printing Materials Guide Simplify3D · 2026-08 · doc
- PC — material basics Polymaker Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- Wet Filament — signs, causes and drying Polymaker Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- CARBONX ezPC+CF — product page (print recommendations) 3DXTech · 2026-08 · doc
- Composite materials filled with carbon, kevlar or glass Prusa Knowledge Base · 2026-08 · doc
- Bambu Filament Technical Data Sheet V2.0 — PC Bambu Lab · 2026-08 · tds
- Prusament PC Blend Technical Datasheet v1.1 Prusa Polymers · 2022-02 · tds
- Experimental data for creep and dynamic mechanical properties of polycarbonate and polycarbonate/ABS Data in Brief 42:108264 · 2022-06 · paper
- Emissions of Ultrafine Particles and Volatile Organic Compounds from Commercially Available Desktop Three-Dimensional Printers with Multiple Filaments (Azimi et al.) Environmental Science & Technology 50(3) 1260-1268 · 2016-01 · paper
- Water soluble (BVOH/PVA) — Knowledge Base Prusa Research · 2026-08 · doc
- Makrolon — The chemical resistance (Makrolon 2800, 6 days at 23 °C and 50 °C) Covestro · 2016-12 · tds
- Polyvinyl alcohol — KURARAY POVAL application guide Kuraray · 2026-08 · tds
- Weld-On 3 Acrylic Plastic Cement — technical data sheet (shipped as dichloromethane) IPS Corporation · 2002-07 · tds