3D Printing InfoFilament comparison
PA aramid vs PLA Glow
Compare printing settings, strength, heat resistance, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
| Property | Aramid-fibre nylonPA | Glow-in-the-dark PLAPLA |
|---|---|---|
| Market snapshot | ||
| Listing priceUSD/kg; dated snapshots | Not documented | $24.99/kg median; $19.99–$49.16/kg across 5 dated product listings |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Base polymer / chemistry | Aramid-fibre reinforced polyamide[1] | PLA with a phosphorescent additive at 2–20 wt% (Bambu Lab SDS, filler not named)[2] |
| Densityg/cm³ | Not documented | 1.24 (colorFabb) to 1.26 (Bambu Lab), ISO 1183[3][4] |
| Typical priceUSD/kg | Not documented | 1 kg spools cluster near 25[5][6] |
| Price range across brandsUSD/kg | Not documented | 20–49 across brands; ELEGOO 20, Bambu Lab 25, Polymaker 25, Filament PM 49 on 0.5 kg spools[7][5][6][8] |
| Market availability1–5 | Special order, 1–2 makers worldwide — no aramid-filled nylon filament was found in any catalogue searched; the aramid filaments that do exist in the retail market use an ASA matrix[9][10] | Stocked by most mainstream brands[5][6][7] |
| Spool sizes & diameters | Not documented | 1.75 and 2.85 mm; 0.75 and 1 kg spools[9][4] |
| Typical applications | Not documented | Signage, novelty and cosplay parts that glow after light exposure[3] |
| Printing Parameters | ||
| Nozzle temperature°C | Not documented | 190–230 on the Bambu Lab TDS against 210–240 in its own material table; colorFabb advises 195–220[3][11][4] |
| Bed temperature°C | Not documented | 35–45 (Bambu Lab); 50–60 (colorFabb)[3][4] |
| Enclosure / chamber requirement1–5 | Enclosure required (passive) — as for every nylon[1] | Open frame is fine[3] |
| Part cooling fan | Not documented | Fan on; colorFabb allows 0–100 %[3][4] |
| Overall printing difficulty1–5 | Not documented | Easy — minor profile tuning; a hardened nozzle is mandatory[11][6] |
| Extruder requirement | Not documented | Bambu Lab: hardened steel and high-flow nozzles only, 0.2 mm excluded, AMS lite not compatible[11] |
| Hardware Wear & Reliability | ||
| Nozzle hardness required1–4 | Hardened steel required — no aramid-filled nylon datasheet was obtainable; Polymaker measures about 9 h of brass nozzle life on its fibre-filled nylons[12] | Hardened steel required[11][6][4] |
| Abrasiveness1–5 | Highly abrasive — fibre-reinforced nylon composite[12] | Highly abrasive — the phosphor is a hard ceramic; Bambu Lab groups glow with carbon fibre as the materials that wear nozzles and grind AMS PTFE, and both Bambu Lab and Polymaker require a hardened nozzle[11][4] |
| Nozzle clog risk1–5 | High — jams from moisture, heat creep or particles; nylon already needs a drybox and Prusa names kevlar among the fibres that raise nozzle-clogging risk[13] | Moderate — needs dry filament and a clean nozzle[11] |
| Hotend requirement | Not documented | Hardened steel nozzle; Bambu Lab lists glow-in-the-dark among the filaments its hardened-steel nozzle exists for[14][11] |
| Other hardware wear | Not documented | Bambu Lab reports the filament adds enough feeding resistance to fail prints on the AMS lite; colorFabb warns of brass nozzle wear[11][4] |
| Moisture Behaviour | ||
| Moisture absorption (hygroscopicity)1–5 | Very high (>2 %) — the polyamide matrix governs uptake[15] | Moderate — 0.46 % saturated at 25 °C / 55 % RH[3] |
| Equilibrium moisture content at ~50 % RH% | Not documented | 0.46 saturated at 25 °C / 55 % RH (Bambu Lab)[3] |
| Effect of moisture on strength | Polymaker's printed dry-versus-wet blocks for its CoPA nylon show what conditioning does to the family: tensile 78.0 → 34.3 MPa and modulus 2703 → 724 MPa, with notched Charpy rising 6.9 → 27.7 kJ/m². Fibre reinforcement reduces but does not remove the effect[16][17] | Polymaker rates PLA low-sensitivity and publishes no dry-versus-conditioned figures for this grade; absorbed water flashes to steam and shows as bubbling and poor layer adhesion[15] |
| Mechanical Properties | ||
| Tensile strength (XY)MPa | Not documented | 32 ± 3 printed XY, ISO 527 (Bambu Lab); colorFabb quotes 61.5 by ISO 527 on its own specimens[3][4] |
| Young's modulusMPa | Not documented | 2030 ± 210 printed XY, ISO 527 (Bambu Lab); colorFabb 2960[3][4] |
| Elongation at break% | Not documented | 8.6 ± 1.2 printed XY, ISO 527 (Bambu Lab); colorFabb 10.5 at break[3][4] |
| Flexural strengthMPa | Not documented | 76 ± 4 printed XY, ISO 178 (Bambu Lab)[3] |
| Flexural modulusMPa | Not documented | 2640 ± 130 printed XY, ISO 178 (Bambu Lab); colorFabb 3295[3][4] |
| Charpy impact, notchedkJ/m² | Not documented | 2.8 (colorFabb, ISO 179-1/1eA) and 8.8 ± 1.7 (Bambu Lab, ISO 179) printed XY, notched[3][4] |
| Other impact data | Not documented | Charpy unnotched 27.3 (Bambu Lab) and 30.8 (colorFabb), printed, ISO 179[3][4] |
| Layer adhesion / Z tensileMPa | Not documented | 26 ± 3 printed Z, ISO 527 (Bambu Lab)[3] |
| Brittleness1–5 | Not documented | Brittle — snaps with little warning[3] |
| Creep resistance / sustained load1–5 | Not documented | Poor — no glow-grade creep test; plain printed PLA sagged from 12 to 16.2–21.8 mm over 5 days at 1.25 kg[18][19][20] |
| Fatigue / repeated-flex resistance1–5 | Not documented | Poor — no grade-specific S-N curve; plain printed PLA ran 38 000–49 000 cycles at 30 % of tensile strength and the glow filler leaves a brittle, highly abrasive compound[21][3] |
| Elasticity / flexibility1–5 | Not documented | Rigid[3] |
| Z strength as % of XY% | Not documented | 81 by tensile, 72 by flexural (printed, Bambu Lab)[3] |
| Thermal Properties | ||
| HDT at 0.45 MPa°C | Not documented | 55 (ISO 75, 0.45 MPa)[3] |
| HDT at 1.8 MPa°C | Not documented | 52 (ISO 75, 1.8 MPa)[3] |
| Glass transition (Tg)°C | Not documented | 55 (DSC)[3] |
| Melting point / Vicat°C | Not documented | 155 peak melt (DSC); colorFabb quotes above 155 by ISO 3146-C[3][4] |
| Environment & Chemical | ||
| UV resistance1–5 | Not documented | Degrades within weeks outdoors[22] |
| Health & Safety | ||
| Fume toxicity1–5 | Moderate — measurable VOCs and UFPs, ventilation advised[23] | Low hazard — minimal VOC and particle emission[23] |
| VOC emission rateµg/min | Up to 180 caprolactam, the dominant VOC from nylon and the largest single-VOC rate in the study[23] | Not documented |
| Ultrafine-particle emission rateparticles/min | ≈2 × 10⁸ median for nylon — low for particles despite the highest VOC mass measured[23] | Not documented |
| Hazardous species emitted | Caprolactam, at up to 180 µg/min from nylon filament[23] | Not documented |
| Ventilation / filtration requirement1–5 | Ventilated room or enclosure recommended[23] | None needed in a normal room[23] |
| Post-Processing | ||
| Support material pairing | Not documented | Support for PLA (Bambu Lab)[3] |
| Dimensional accuracy & detail | Not documented | Glow brightness rises with wall thickness; 0.2 mm nozzles are not usable[11] |
| Solvents & Solubility | ||
| Soluble in | Formic acid, phenol, m-cresol and hexafluoroisopropanol dissolve the matrix at 23 °C, leaving the fibre; laboratory reagents.[24] | Chloroform dissolves the PLA matrix (10 % w/v, 2–4 h at 23 °C) and leaves the filler as loose sludge; laboratory reagent.[25] |
| Softened or crazed by | Zinc chloride solutions stress-crack the nylon matrix, alcoholic calcium chloride dissolves it, mineral acids attack it.[24] | Acetone, ethyl acetate and toluene plasticise the matrix but dissolve <1 % even at 65 °C; acetone submersion crazes parts.[25][26] |
| Solvent welding & smoothing agent | None — nylon's only solvents (formic acid, phenol, HFIP) degrade the part, and the fibre blocks surface flow anyway.[24] | Chloroform vapour attacks only the resin fraction, so the filler is left standing proud; no workshop-safe agent exists.[27][26] |
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
- PA (Nylon) — material basics Polymaker Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- Safety Data Sheet SDS20251127A12 — Bambu PLA Glow Bambu Lab · 2025-11 · msds
- Bambu Filament Technical Data Sheet — PLA Glow Bambu Lab · 2026-08 · tds
- glowFill technical data sheet colorFabb · 2026-08 · tds
- PLA Glow — product page Bambu Lab US Store · 2026-08 · vendor
- Panchroma Luminous PLA — product page Polymaker Shop · 2026-08 · vendor
- ELEGOO product catalogue ELEGOO · 2026-08 · vendor
- Filament PM PLA GlowJet technical data sheet Filament PM (Plasty Mladec) · 2026-08 · tds
- Polymaker product catalogue Polymaker · 2026-08 · vendor
- 3DXTech product catalogue 3DXTech · 2026-08 · vendor
- PLA Usage Guide Bambu Lab Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- Fiberon PA6-CF20 Technical Data Sheet V1.1 Polymaker · 2024-12 · tds
- Composite materials filled with carbon, kevlar or glass Prusa Knowledge Base · 2026-08 · doc
- Nozzles — material and compatibility Bambu Lab Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- Wet Filament — signs, causes and drying Polymaker Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- PolyMide CoPA Technical Data Sheet V5.4 (dry and wet status blocks) Polymaker · 2024-11 · tds
- Moisture Conditioning — effect on printed nylon properties Polymaker Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- BambuLab PLA Basic vs PLA Tough vs PLA-CF — results spreadsheet My Tech Fun (Igor Gaspar) · 2026-08 · test
- Polymaker PLA Pro vs PLA-CF — results spreadsheet My Tech Fun (Igor Gaspar) · 2026-08 · test
- Carbon Fiber PLA vs META-PLA vs PLA+ vs PLA by Sunlu — results spreadsheet My Tech Fun (Igor Gaspar) · 2026-08 · test
- Mechanical Properties of Additively Manufactured Polymeric Materials — PLA and PETG — For Biomechanical Applications Polymers 16(13):1868 · 2024-06 · paper
- PLA — material guide Prusa Knowledge Base · 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
- Ultramid Nylon Chemical Resistance guide (unmodified PA6 B27E and PA66 A27E) BASF · 2026-08 · tds
- Solubility Study of Ingeo Biopolymer Grades in Common Organic Solvents (NWPD003) NatureWorks · 2019-10 · tds
- Improve your 3D prints with chemical smoothing Prusa Research · 2026-08 · doc
- Effect of vapour smoothing in trichloromethane on 3D printed PLA — surface, mechanical and chemical structure Pitale, Keche & Chopra, Engineering Research Express 6(4) 045579 · 2024-12 · paper