3D Printing InfoFilament comparison
HIPS vs PA11
Compare printing settings, strength, heat resistance, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
| Property | HIPSABS | PA11 (Nylon 11)PA |
|---|---|---|
| Market snapshot | ||
| Listing priceUSD/kg; dated snapshots | $29.99/kg median; $27.99–$32.00/kg across 3 dated product listings | $194.98/kg median; $194.98–$194.98/kg across 1 dated product listings |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Base polymer / chemistry | High-impact polystyrene — polystyrene toughened with a butadiene rubber phase[1][2] | Polyamide 11, polymerised from castor-oil-derived aminoundecanoic acid — a bio-based nylon[3][4] |
| Densityg/cm³ | 1.04 (ISO 1183)[1] | 1.02 (ISO 1183)[3] |
| Typical priceUSD/kg | 1 kg spools cluster near 31[5][6] | Not documented |
| Price range across brandsUSD/kg | 28–32 across brands; YXPOLYER 28, Push Plastic 30, 3DXTech 32[6][5][7] | Not documented |
| Market availability1–5 | Available from several mainstream brands[5][6] | Niche, a handful of specialist brands[4] |
| Spool sizes & diameters | 1.75 and 2.85 mm; 1 and 3 kg spools[6][5] | 1.75 mm; 1 kg spools[4] |
| Typical applications | Break-away and d-limonene-soluble support for ABS and ASA, and a light model material in its own right[2] | Tough, chemically resistant functional parts; Prusa targets it at impact-loaded and vibration-loaded components[4] |
| Diameter tolerance± mm | Not documented | ±0.02 (Prusament)[3] |
| Printing Parameters | ||
| Nozzle temperature°C | 230–245 (Simplify3D)[8] | 275 ± 10 (Prusament)[3] |
| Bed temperature°C | 100–115 (Simplify3D)[8] | 100 ± 10 (Prusament)[3] |
| Enclosure / chamber requirement1–5 | Enclosure recommended[9] | Enclosure required (passive) — Prusament specifies a 55 ± 5 °C chamber[3] |
| Recommended chamber temperature°C | Not documented | 55 ± 5 (Prusament)[3] |
| Part cooling fan | Part cooling fan not required[8] | Not documented |
| Bed surface & adhesion aid | Glue stick, glass plate, Kapton tape or PET sheets[8] | PA nylon sheet (Prusament)[3] |
| Warping tendency1–5 | Moderate — needs adhesion aid or draught shield[9] | Not documented |
| Bed-adhesion difficulty1–5 | Needs a specific surface plus adhesive[8] | Not documented |
| Stringing / oozing tendency1–5 | Slight — HIPS oozes less than ABS[8][10] | Not documented |
| Overall printing difficulty1–5 | Intermediate — dry filament and a tuned profile[9] | Advanced — enclosure, hardware upgrades, tuning[3][11] |
| Extruder requirement | Not documented | Prusa printed its test specimens with a high-flow CHT nozzle[3] |
| Hardware Wear & Reliability | ||
| Nozzle hardness required1–4 | Brass fine indefinitely[9] | Brass fine indefinitely for unfilled grades[11] |
| Abrasiveness1–5 | Non-abrasive[9] | Non-abrasive when unfilled[11] |
| Nozzle clog risk1–5 | Low — no special hot-end required, no drybox and no hardened nozzle, and 3DXTech states drying is not needed[8][12][2] | High — jams from moisture, heat creep or particles[13] |
| Heat-creep / jam sensitivity1–5 | Slightly sensitive[8] | Not documented |
| Hotend requirement | No special hot-end required[8] | Not documented |
| Moisture Behaviour | ||
| Moisture absorption (hygroscopicity)1–5 | Low (0.1–0.3 %) — Simplify3D lists water resistance as a headline property[8] | High (0.8–2 %) — Prusa measures 0.46 % after 7 days at 22 % RH, but PA11 sits between PA12 and PA6 in the family[3][13] |
| Equilibrium moisture content at ~50 % RH% | Not documented | 0.26 after 24 h and 0.46 after 7 days (Prusa Polymers method)[3] |
| Symptoms when wet | Bubbling and popping at the nozzle, stringing and a rough surface[13] | Popping and cracking during extrusion, then hard-to-diagnose defects[14] |
| Effect of moisture on strength | Polymaker rates ABS moderate-sensitivity and publishes no dry-versus-conditioned figures; absorbed water flashes to steam in the hotend and shows as bubbling and poor layer adhesion[13] | Prusa publishes no dry-versus-conditioned columns; the CoPA reference shows the PA-family response — stiffness and strength fall sharply, impact and elongation rise[14][15] |
| Storage requirement | Sealed with desiccant; less critical than for the polyamides[13] | Sealed below 20 % RH with desiccant[13] |
| Mechanical Properties | ||
| Tensile strength (XY)MPa | 40 at break (printed XY, ISO 527)[1] | 38.3 ± 0.8 printed horizontal and 39.5 ± 0.5 printed vertical at yield, ISO 527-1[3] |
| Young's modulusMPa | 1350 (printed XY, ISO 527) — the lowest modulus of the styrenics here[1] | 1200 printed, both orientations, ISO 527-1[3] |
| Elongation at break% | 18 at break (printed XY, ISO 527)[1] | 5.6 ± 0.1 at yield, printed, ISO 527-1[3] |
| Flexural strengthMPa | 70 (printed XY, ISO 178)[1] | Not documented |
| Flexural modulusMPa | 1600 (printed XY, ISO 178)[1] | 1100 printed horizontal and 1000 printed vertical, ISO 178[3] |
| Charpy impact, notchedkJ/m² | Not documented | 12.9 ± 2.1 printed horizontal and 11.7 ± 1.2 printed vertical, ISO 179-1 notched[3] |
| Layer adhesion / Z tensileMPa | Not documented | 32 ± 1 (Prusa Polymers interlayer adhesion test) — the highest interlayer figure Prusa publishes for any of its filaments[3] |
| Brittleness1–5 | Tough — absorbs impact, yields before breaking[1] | Tough — absorbs impact, yields before breaking[3] |
| Hardness (scale-specific)Shore A / Shore D / Rockwell | Not documented | 70 Shore D (Prusa Polymers method)[3] |
| Creep resistance / sustained load1–5 | Moderate — no printed-HIPS creep test found; Tg of 100 °C keeps room-temperature service far below softening[1][8] | Not documented |
| Fatigue / repeated-flex resistance1–5 | Moderate[1] | Excellent — living hinges viable[11] |
| Elasticity / flexibility1–5 | Rigid[1] | Semi-flexible[3] |
| Z strength as % of XY% | Not documented | 84 — Prusa publishes a tensile anisotropy coefficient of 0.84, the ratio of Z to XY tensile strength[3] |
| Thermal Properties | ||
| HDT at 0.45 MPa°C | Not documented | 58.7 (ISO 75, 0.45 MPa)[3] |
| HDT at 1.8 MPa°C | Not documented | 49.9 (ISO 75, 1.8 MPa)[3] |
| Glass transition (Tg)°C | 100 (DSC)[1] | Not documented |
| Melting point / Vicat°C | Amorphous — no melting point[1] | Not documented |
| Continuous service temperature°C | Bounded by a glass transition of 100 °C; no loaded-bar service figure is published for HIPS[1] | Not documented |
| Flammability / UL 94 | Flammable; no UL 94 rating published[1] | Not documented |
| Environment & Chemical | ||
| UV resistance1–5 | Months outdoors before embrittlement — polystyrene yellows and chalks under UV[16] | Not documented |
| Chemical resistance | Dissolves completely in d-limonene — the basis of its use as a soluble support[2] | Not documented |
| Water / humidity resistance in service1–5 | Not documented | Absorbs water, properties shift[14] |
| Food contact | Not food safe[16] | Not documented |
| Biodegradability / compostability | Not biodegradable[16] | Bio-based — the monomer comes from castor oil[4] |
| Recyclability | Not accepted in household plastic collection[16] | Not documented |
| Electrical & ESD properties | Surface resistance above 10¹³ ohm/sq — insulating (ASTM D257)[1] | Not documented |
| Health & Safety | ||
| Fume toxicity1–5 | High — hazardous VOC such as styrene; enclosure and filtration needed[17] | Moderate — measurable VOCs and UFPs, ventilation advised[17] |
| VOC emission rateµg/min | 12–113 styrene, the range measured across ABS and the one HIPS filament tested[17] | Up to 180 caprolactam, the dominant VOC from nylon; total VOC reached nearly 200 µg/min, the highest of the nine filaments tested[17] |
| Ultrafine-particle emission rateparticles/min | ≈4 × 10⁹ median for the HIPS filament tested, an order of magnitude below ABS but forty times PLA[17] | ≈2 × 10⁸ median — low for ultrafine particles despite the highest VOC mass of any filament tested[17] |
| Hazardous species emitted | Styrene was the only dominant VOC identified for the HIPS filament tested[17] | Caprolactam, at up to 180 µg/min from nylon filament — the largest single-VOC emission rate measured in the study[17] |
| Ventilation / filtration requirement1–5 | Enclosure with carbon and HEPA filtration[17] | Ventilated room or enclosure recommended[17] |
| Post-Processing | ||
| Sanding & machining | Sands and paints readily, like ABS[16] | Not documented |
| Gluing & solvent welding | Solvent-welds with d-limonene, and with acetone via its polystyrene backbone[8][2] | Not documented |
| Vapour / chemical smoothing | d-limonene attacks the surface; acetone smoothing is far less effective than on ABS[2][8] | Not documented |
| Support material pairing | Used as the support material itself — dissolves in d-limonene, or breaks away from ABS and ASA[2] | Not documented |
| Solvents & Solubility | ||
| Soluble in | d-limonene, 12–24 h submerged with occasional agitation; acetone also dissolves it, and xylene does so at 23 °C.[18][19][20] | Dissolved at 23 °C by formic acid, phenol, m-cresol, 96 % sulphuric acid or hexafluoroisopropanol — all laboratory reagents.[21][19] |
| Softened or crazed by | Limonene also disrupts layer adhesion in some ABS and ASA grades, so an ABS model can flake apart in the same bath.[22] | Mineral acids, oxidants, halogens and zinc chloride solutions attack the amide bond; ordinary solvents do not (BASF, PA6/66).[21] |
| Solvent welding & smoothing agent | Limonene welds and lightly etches it; acetone welds through the polystyrene backbone but smooths less well than ABS.[18][22] | None — nylon's only solvents are formic acid, phenol and HFIP, all of which degrade the part they wet.[21] |
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
- 3DXMAX HIPS Technical Data Sheet 3DXTech · 2026-08 · tds
- 3DXMAX HIPS — product page 3DXTech · 2026-08 · vendor
- Prusament PA11 Technical Datasheet v1.0 Prusa Polymers · 2026-07 · tds
- Prusament PA11 — material page Prusa Polymers · 2026-08 · doc
- 3DXTech product catalogue 3DXTech · 2026-08 · vendor
- Push Plastic product catalogue Push Plastic · 2026-08 · vendor
- YXPOLYER HIPS product page YXPOLYER · 2026-08 · vendor
- HIPS — Ultimate 3D Printing Materials Guide Simplify3D · 2026-08 · doc
- ABS / ASA / PC Usage Guide Bambu Lab Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- ABS — Ultimate 3D Printing Materials Guide Simplify3D · 2026-08 · doc
- PA (Nylon) — material basics Polymaker Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- Filament Material Guide Prusa Knowledge Base · 2026-08 · doc
- Wet Filament — signs, causes and drying Polymaker Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- Moisture Conditioning — effect on printed nylon properties Polymaker Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- PolyMide CoPA Technical Data Sheet V5.4 (dry and wet status blocks) Polymaker · 2024-11 · tds
- ABS — material basics Polymaker Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- 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
- D-Limonene — FDM post-processing guide Filament2Print · 2026-08 · review
- Chemical resistance — resistance of Ensinger plastics to chemicals (DIN 50 014, 23/50) Ensinger · 2026-08 · tds
- US 5,278,282 Polymer recycling by selective dissolution — xylene dissolution temperatures Nauman & Lynch, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · 1994-01 · paper
- Ultramid Nylon Chemical Resistance guide (unmodified PA6 B27E and PA66 A27E) BASF · 2026-08 · tds
- HIPS — Knowledge Base Prusa Research · 2026-08 · doc