3D Printing InfoFilament comparison
PA11 vs PP
Compare printing settings, strength, heat resistance, dated prices and sources.
2 selected · all documented properties
| Property | PA11 (Nylon 11)PA | Polypropylene (PP)POLYOLEFIN |
|---|---|---|
| Market snapshot | ||
| Listing priceUSD/kg; dated snapshots | $194.98/kg median; $194.98–$194.98/kg across 1 dated product listings | $46.56/kg median; $31.99–$53.00/kg across 4 dated product listings |
| Identity & Market | ||
| Base polymer / chemistry | Polyamide 11, polymerised from castor-oil-derived aminoundecanoic acid — a bio-based nylon[1][2] | Polypropylene — a semi-crystalline polyolefin with no polar groups, so it neither absorbs water nor bonds to most bed surfaces[3][4] |
| Densityg/cm³ | 1.02 (ISO 1183)[1] | 0.91 (Prusa PP composite, ISO 1183) — the lightest common filament[5] |
| Typical priceUSD/kg | Not documented | 1 kg-equivalent spools span 27–53; the middle of the market is about 44[6][7][8][9] |
| Price range across brandsUSD/kg | Not documented | 27–53 across brands; Reli3D 32 on Amazon, SUNLU 44 at 0.8 kg, Fiberlogy 49 at 750 g, IEMAI 3D 53, and the 3DJake PP listing spans 27–49[6][10][7][8][9] |
| Market availability1–5 | Niche, a handful of specialist brands[2] | Available from several mainstream brands[10][7][6] |
| Spool sizes & diameters | 1.75 mm; 1 kg spools[2] | 1.75 and 2.85 mm; 0.75 kg spools are common[7] |
| Typical applications | Tough, chemically resistant functional parts; Prusa targets it at impact-loaded and vibration-loaded components[2] | Living hinges, chemical-resistant containers, automotive clips and packaging prototypes[3] |
| Diameter tolerance± mm | ±0.02 (Prusament)[1] | Not documented |
| Printing Parameters | ||
| Nozzle temperature°C | 275 ± 10 (Prusament)[1] | 210–230 (Braskem-type PE/PP window); Formfutura's Centaur PP melts at 205 ± 15 °C[3] |
| Bed temperature°C | 100 ± 10 (Prusament)[1] | Not documented |
| Enclosure / chamber requirement1–5 | Enclosure required (passive) — Prusament specifies a 55 ± 5 °C chamber[1] | Enclosure recommended — Simplify3D lists an enclosure as a hardware requirement and Polymaker advises one below 70 °C ambient to stop warping and cracking[11][4] |
| Recommended chamber temperature°C | 55 ± 5 (Prusament)[1] | Not documented |
| Part cooling fan | Not documented | Part cooling fan required (Simplify3D)[11] |
| Bed surface & adhesion aid | PA nylon sheet (Prusament)[1] | Packing tape, a polypropylene sheet, or a PP-specific adhesive such as Magigoo PP — ordinary PLA and ABS adhesives do not hold it[11][4] |
| Warping tendency1–5 | Not documented | High — enclosure needed for reliable large parts; PP's crystallinity drives shrinkage and Prusa recommends a brim on its PP grades[5][12] |
| Bed-adhesion difficulty1–5 | Not documented | Very difficult — special plates or slurry required. PP bonds to almost nothing; a polypropylene-specific tape or adhesive is the normal answer[5][4] |
| Stringing / oozing tendency1–5 | Not documented | Slight — Polymaker advises 1–2 mm retraction at 20–30 mm/s[4] |
| Overall printing difficulty1–5 | Advanced — enclosure, hardware upgrades, tuning[1][13] | Advanced — enclosure, hardware upgrades, tuning; bed adhesion is the whole problem[4][5] |
| Extruder requirement | Prusa printed its test specimens with a high-flow CHT nozzle[1] | Not documented |
| Hardware Wear & Reliability | ||
| Nozzle hardness required1–4 | Brass fine indefinitely for unfilled grades[13] | Brass fine indefinitely for unfilled grades — Simplify3D states no special hotend is required[11] |
| Abrasiveness1–5 | Non-abrasive when unfilled[13] | Non-abrasive when unfilled[11] |
| Nozzle clog risk1–5 | High — jams from moisture, heat creep or particles[14] | Low — Simplify3D lists no special hotend requirement for PP and clogging is not among its listed drawbacks[14][11] |
| Heat-creep / jam sensitivity1–5 | Not documented | Slightly sensitive[11] |
| Hotend requirement | Not documented | No special hot-end required (Simplify3D)[11] |
| Moisture Behaviour | ||
| Moisture absorption (hygroscopicity)1–5 | High (0.8–2 %) — Prusa measures 0.46 % after 7 days at 22 % RH, but PA11 sits between PA12 and PA6 in the family[1][14] | Negligible (<0.1 % EMC) — Prusa measures 0.03 % in 24 h and 0.04 % in 7 days on its PP composite, the lowest figures it publishes for any filament[5] |
| Equilibrium moisture content at ~50 % RH% | 0.26 after 24 h and 0.46 after 7 days (Prusa Polymers method)[1] | 0.03 after 24 h and 0.04 after 7 days at 24 °C / 22 % RH (Prusa Polymers, measured on its PP composite)[5] |
| Drying temperature & time | Not documented | No drying step is published for PP; uptake is below the level that affects printing[5] |
| Symptoms when wet | Popping and cracking during extrusion, then hard-to-diagnose defects[15] | Bubbling and popping at the nozzle; Polymaker still advises a 70 °C dry for 4–6 h despite the low uptake[4] |
| Effect of moisture on strength | Prusa publishes no dry-versus-conditioned columns; the CoPA reference shows the PA-family response — stiffness and strength fall sharply, impact and elongation rise[15][16] | Not applicable in practice — with equilibrium uptake at 0.04 %, there is no moisture-driven strength loss to measure. Polymaker's sensitivity tiers put polyolefins below even PLA[5][14] |
| Storage requirement | Sealed below 20 % RH with desiccant[14] | No special storage needed[5] |
| Mechanical Properties | ||
| Tensile strength (XY)MPa | 38.3 ± 0.8 printed horizontal and 39.5 ± 0.5 printed vertical at yield, ISO 527-1[1] | 12 at yield (Formfutura Centaur PP, ASTM D638)[3] |
| Young's modulusMPa | 1200 printed, both orientations, ISO 527-1[1] | 724 on extruded PP stock (ASTM D638; converted from 105,000 psi)[17] |
| Elongation at break% | 5.6 ± 0.1 at yield, printed, ISO 527-1[1] | Above 600 at break (Formfutura Centaur PP, ASTM D638)[3] |
| Flexural strengthMPa | Not documented | 31.0 on extruded PP stock (ASTM D790; converted from 4500 psi)[17] |
| Flexural modulusMPa | 1100 printed horizontal and 1000 printed vertical, ISO 178[1] | 402 flexural modulus (Formfutura Centaur PP, ASTM D790) — an order of magnitude below any rigid filament[3] |
| Charpy impact, notchedkJ/m² | 12.9 ± 2.1 printed horizontal and 11.7 ± 1.2 printed vertical, ISO 179-1 notched[1] | Not documented |
| Other impact data | Not documented | Izod notched 112 J/m on extruded PP stock, converted from 2.1 ft-lb/in (ASTM D256)[17] |
| Layer adhesion / Z tensileMPa | 32 ± 1 (Prusa Polymers interlayer adhesion test) — the highest interlayer figure Prusa publishes for any of its filaments[1] | Not documented |
| Brittleness1–5 | Tough — absorbs impact, yields before breaking[1] | Very ductile — bends far before failing[3] |
| Hardness (scale-specific)Shore A / Shore D / Rockwell | 70 Shore D (Prusa Polymers method)[1] | Rockwell R102 (and M95) on extruded PP stock (ASTM D785)[17] |
| Creep resistance / sustained load1–5 | Not documented | Below average[3] |
| Fatigue / repeated-flex resistance1–5 | Excellent — living hinges viable[13] | Excellent — living hinges viable, the classic polypropylene application[3] |
| Elasticity / flexibility1–5 | Semi-flexible[1] | Semi-flexible[3] |
| Z strength as % of XY% | 84 — Prusa publishes a tensile anisotropy coefficient of 0.84, the ratio of Z to XY tensile strength[1] | Not documented |
| Thermal Properties | ||
| HDT at 0.45 MPa°C | 58.7 (ISO 75, 0.45 MPa)[1] | 74 on extruded PP stock (ASTM D648 at 66 psi; converted from 165 °F)[17] |
| HDT at 1.8 MPa°C | 49.9 (ISO 75, 1.8 MPa)[1] | Not documented |
| Melting point / Vicat°C | Not documented | 205 ± 15 melting (Formfutura Centaur PP)[3] |
| Continuous service temperature°C | Not documented | Bounded by a melting point of 205 ± 15 °C and by the 158 °C heat deflection of the carbon-filled grade; no loaded-bar service figure is published for unfilled PP[3][5] |
| Flammability / UL 94 | Not documented | Flammable; no UL 94 rating published for the grades surveyed[5] |
| Environment & Chemical | ||
| UV resistance1–5 | Not documented | Months outdoors before embrittlement — unstabilised polypropylene chalks under UV[4] |
| Chemical resistance | Not documented | Excellent against acids, alkalis and most solvents — the usual reason to choose PP[4] |
| Water / humidity resistance in service1–5 | Absorbs water, properties shift[15] | Excellent — essentially unaffected[5] |
| Food contact | Not documented | Polypropylene is a common food-packaging polymer, but no filament here carries a food-contact certification[4] |
| Biodegradability / compostability | Bio-based — the monomer comes from castor oil[2] | Not biodegradable[4] |
| Recyclability | Not documented | Mechanically recyclable as resin code 5, but printed waste is not accepted in household collection[4] |
| Health & Safety | ||
| Fume toxicity1–5 | Moderate — measurable VOCs and UFPs, ventilation advised[18] | Low hazard — minimal VOC and particle emission. Inferred: no polyolefin was among the nine filaments in the Azimi chamber study, so this is a family-level judgement rather than a measurement[18] |
| VOC emission rateµg/min | Up to 180 caprolactam, the dominant VOC from nylon; total VOC reached nearly 200 µg/min, the highest of the nine filaments tested[18] | Not documented |
| Ultrafine-particle emission rateparticles/min | ≈2 × 10⁸ median — low for ultrafine particles despite the highest VOC mass of any filament tested[18] | Not documented |
| Hazardous species emitted | Caprolactam, at up to 180 µg/min from nylon filament — the largest single-VOC emission rate measured in the study[18] | Not documented |
| Ventilation / filtration requirement1–5 | Ventilated room or enclosure recommended[18] | Open a window / occasional ventilation. Inferred — no polyolefin was measured in the chamber study[18] |
| Post-Processing | ||
| Sanding & machining | Not documented | Sands poorly — the waxy surface loads abrasive paper[11] |
| Painting & finishing | Not documented | Paint and adhesives do not key to untreated PP; flame or plasma treatment is normally needed first[4] |
| Gluing & solvent welding | Not documented | Nothing common bonds untreated PP; flame or plasma treatment is needed before adhesives key[4] |
| Vapour / chemical smoothing | Not documented | No practical vapour smoothing[11] |
| Support material pairing | Not documented | Prints its own supports; no soluble support is rated for PP[11] |
| Dimensional accuracy & detail | Not documented | Shrinkage and warping dominate; the low modulus means parts flex rather than hold tolerance[5] |
| Solvents & Solubility | ||
| Soluble in | Dissolved at 23 °C by formic acid, phenol, m-cresol, 96 % sulphuric acid or hexafluoroisopropanol — all laboratory reagents.[19][20] | None at room temperature; chloroform dissolves it at 60 °C and xylene at about 118 °C — the xylene-solubles route.[21][22] |
| Softened or crazed by | Mineral acids, oxidants, halogens and zinc chloride solutions attack the amide bond; ordinary solvents do not (BASF, PA6/66).[19] | Xylene, decalin, CCl4 and chlorobenzene are heavily absorbed at 20 °C; oleum, chlorosulphonic acid and bromine destroy it.[21] |
| Solvent welding & smoothing agent | None — nylon's only solvents are formic acid, phenol and HFIP, all of which degrade the part they wet.[19] | None — nothing softens PP at room temperature, so joints have to be welded thermally rather than chemically.[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
- Prusament PA11 Technical Datasheet v1.0 Prusa Polymers · 2026-07 · tds
- Prusament PA11 — material page Prusa Polymers · 2026-08 · doc
- Centaur PP Technical Data Sheet Formfutura · 2026-08 · tds
- PP — material basics Polymaker Wiki · 2026-08 · doc
- Prusament PP Carbon Fiber Technical Datasheet v1.0 Prusa Polymers · 2024-11 · tds
- SUNLU product catalogue SUNLU · 2026-08 · vendor
- Fiberlogy PP Natural — product page 3DJake International · 2026-08 · vendor
- Reli3D Low Warp PP Filament 1.75 mm 1 kg Black — Amazon listing Amazon.com · 2026-08 · vendor
- IEMAI 3D PP 3D Printing Filament — store page IEMAI 3D · 2026-08 · vendor
- PP filament listing 3DJake International · 2026-08 · vendor
- Polypropylene — Ultimate 3D Printing Materials Guide Simplify3D · 2026-08 · doc
- Prusament PP Glass Fiber Technical Datasheet v1.0 Prusa Polymers · 2024-11 · tds
- PA (Nylon) — material basics Polymaker Wiki · 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
- TECAFINE PP natural — stock shape properties Ensinger · 2026-08 · tds
- 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
- Chemical resistance — resistance of Ensinger plastics to chemicals (DIN 50 014, 23/50) Ensinger · 2026-08 · tds
- Pro-fax and Moplen polypropylene — Chemical Resistance Guide (20, 60 and 100 °C) LyondellBasell · 2026-08 · tds
- US 5,278,282 Polymer recycling by selective dissolution — xylene dissolution temperatures Nauman & Lynch, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · 1994-01 · paper