3D Printing InfoWhere it is used
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Nylon & composites · Material guide
PA66 (Nylon 66)
Higher-melting than PA6 and common as an injection-moulding resin, but effectively absent from the filament market — no unfilled PA66 filament was found in any catalogue searched, so this…
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Before you print
- Setup difficulty
- Advanced — enclosure, hardware upgrades, tuning
- Nozzle wear
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Read the full material overview
Higher-melting than PA6 and common as an injection-moulding resin, but effectively absent from the filament market — no unfilled PA66 filament was found in any catalogue searched, so this entry is deliberately sparse.
Applications
PA66 is an established engineering nylon for sliding and locating components, combining stiffness, wear resistance and useful thermal behavior. Ensinger describes unfilled TECAMID 66 stock shapes for mechanical and industrial service. Injection-molding compounds extend that role: its wear-optimized TECACOMP PA66 is specified for plain bearings, guides and couplings, emphasizing both wear of the part and abrasion of its mating surface.
Moisture-dependent dimensions are a major weakness, particularly at a close-fitting bearing or guide. Modified grades address particular wear, heat or stiffness requirements, but their properties differ from unfilled nylon. For printing, the additional difficulty is limited documentation of an available unfilled PA66 filament and qualified process; stock-shape mechanical and thermal data cannot describe layer strength or printed distortion.
Plain bearings, guides and coupling elements ↗
Injection molding · Modified TECACOMP PA66 TRM XS compound; its formulation and properties are not those of unfilled PA66 stock or filament · Manufacturer-listed applications
Ensinger lists these moving-assembly applications for TECACOMP PA66 TRM XS black, a wear-optimized molding compound. It emphasizes low sliding wear and reduced abrasion of steel or plastic counterfaces, demonstrating why the mating material matters as much as strength.
Sources
- 3DXTech product catalogue · 2026-08 · vendor
- Polymaker product catalogue · 2026-08 · vendor
- TECAMID 66 natural (PA66) — stock shape properties · 2026-08 · tds
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Representative catalog values. Check the exact grade and its linked conditions before using a setting.
Nozzle temperature (°C)
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Full value & sources
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—Bed temperature (°C)
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Full value & sources
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—Enclosure
Enclosure required (passive)
Drying
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Full value & sources
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—Go deeper when you need to
34 documented fieldsProperties & source data
Open a topic to explore the complete data. Each value keeps its original conditions, units and dated sources.
Material & market3 fields
| Property and unit | Published value and conditions | Sources and dates |
|---|---|---|
| Base polymer / chemistry | Polyamide 66, condensed from hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid; melts around 40 °C above PA6 | 1 source
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| Density (g/cm³) | 1.14 (extruded unfilled PA66 stock) | 1 source
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| Market availability (1–5) | Special order, 1–2 makers worldwide — no unfilled PA66 filament appeared in any catalogue searched, and the 3DXTech nylon range offers PA6, PA12 and a 6/66 copolymer but no straight PA66 | 2 sources
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Print settings2 fields
| Property and unit | Published value and conditions | Sources and dates |
|---|---|---|
| Enclosure / chamber requirement (1–5) | Enclosure required (passive) | 1 source
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| Overall printing difficulty (1–5) | Advanced — enclosure, hardware upgrades, tuning | 1 source
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Nozzle wear & reliability1 field
| Property and unit | Published value and conditions | Sources and dates |
|---|---|---|
| Nozzle clog risk (1–5) | Very high — frequent jams without careful setup | 2 sources
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Moisture & drying3 fields
| Property and unit | Published value and conditions | Sources and dates |
|---|---|---|
| Moisture absorption (hygroscopicity) (1–5) | Very high (>2 %) | 1 source
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| Equilibrium moisture content at ~50 % RH (%) | 8.5 at saturation on extruded PA66 stock (ASTM D570) — the highest uptake of any polymer in this dataset | 1 source
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| Effect of moisture on strength | Measured dry against wet on printed specimens at 6.16 % moisture (Polymaker CoPA): tensile 78.0 → 34.3 MPa, Young's modulus 2703 → 724 MPa, flexural strength 109.8 → 22.6 MPa, while notched Charpy rises 6.9 → 27.7 kJ/m² and elongation 12.7 → 13.2 % | 2 sources
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Strength & mechanical properties10 fields
| Property and unit | Published value and conditions | Sources and dates |
|---|---|---|
| Tensile strength (XY) (MPa) | 82.7 at yield and 84.8 at break on extruded PA66 stock (ASTM D638; converted from 12,000 and 12,300 psi) — no printed figure exists because no unfilled PA66 filament was found | 1 source
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| Young's modulus (MPa) | 2413 on extruded PA66 stock (ASTM D638; converted from 350,000 psi) | 1 source
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| Elongation at break (%) | 50 at break on extruded PA66 stock (ASTM D638) | 1 source
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| Flexural strength (MPa) | 113.8 on extruded PA66 stock (ASTM D790; converted from 16,500 psi) | 1 source
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| Flexural modulus (MPa) | 3034 on extruded PA66 stock (ASTM D790; converted from 440,000 psi) | 1 source
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| Other impact data | Izod 53 J/m on extruded PA66 stock, converted from 1.0 ft-lb/in (ASTM D256) | 1 source
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| Hardness (scale-specific) (Shore A / Shore D / Rockwell) | Shore D 86 and Rockwell 85 (108) — the source does not name the scales on extruded PA66 stock (ASTM D2240, D785) | 1 source
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| Fatigue / repeated-flex resistance (1–5) | Excellent — living hinges viable | 1 source
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| Elasticity / flexibility (1–5) | Semi-flexible | 1 source
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| Wear resistance & friction | Wear factor 200e-10 in3*min/(ft*lb*h) on extruded PA66 stock (ASTM D3702); Ensinger lists very good slide and wear properties | 1 source
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Heat & temperature6 fields
| Property and unit | Published value and conditions | Sources and dates |
|---|---|---|
| HDT at 0.45 MPa (°C) | 232 on extruded PA66 stock (ASTM D648 at 66 psi; converted from 450 °F) | 1 source
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| HDT at 1.8 MPa (°C) | 90 on extruded PA66 stock (ASTM D648 at 264 psi; converted from 194 °F) — the gap to the 0.45 MPa figure is the widest in the dataset | 1 source
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| Melting point / Vicat (°C) | 255 melting on extruded PA66 stock (ASTM D2133; converted from 491 °F) | 1 source
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| Continuous service temperature (°C) | 85 long term and 149 short term on extruded PA66 stock (converted from 185 °F and 300 °F) | 1 source
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| Thermal expansion (CTE) (µm/m·K) | 81.0 (extruded PA66 stock, ASTM D696; source states 4.5e-5 in/in/°F) | 1 source
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| Flammability / UL 94 | UL 94 V-2 on extruded PA66 stock | 1 source
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Weather & chemical resistance1 field
| Property and unit | Published value and conditions | Sources and dates |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical & ESD properties | Volume resistance 1e15 ohm-cm and dielectric constant 4 on extruded PA66 stock (ASTM D257, D150) | 1 source
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Health & safety5 fields
| Property and unit | Published value and conditions | Sources and dates |
|---|---|---|
| Fume toxicity (1–5) | Moderate — measurable VOCs and UFPs, ventilation advised | |
| VOC emission rate (µg/min) | Up to 180 caprolactam, the dominant VOC from nylon; total VOC reached nearly 200 µg/min, the highest of the nine filaments tested | |
| Ultrafine-particle emission rate (particles/min) | ≈2 × 10⁸ median — low for ultrafine particles despite the highest VOC mass of any filament tested | |
| Hazardous species emitted | Caprolactam, at up to 180 µg/min from nylon filament — the largest single-VOC emission rate measured in the study | |
| Ventilation / filtration requirement (1–5) | Ventilated room or enclosure recommended |
Solvents & solubility3 fields
| Property and unit | Published value and conditions | Sources and dates |
|---|---|---|
| Soluble in | Dissolved at 23 °C by formic acid above ~80 %, phenol, m-cresol, 96 % sulphuric acid or hexafluoroisopropanol — laboratory reagents. | 1 source |
| Softened or crazed by | Zinc chloride solutions stress-crack it — 10 % marginal, 37 % not resistant; alcoholic calcium chloride dissolves it. | 1 source |
| Solvent welding & smoothing agent | None — nylon's only solvents are formic acid, phenol and HFIP, all of which degrade the part they wet. | 1 source |
How to read these values
Values describe representative grades, not every spool. Manufacturer datasheets and independent tests retain their source labels and dates. Printed orientation, test method, conditioning and formulation can change results. Unknown values are —. A listed use is not a certification. Shore A, Shore D and Rockwell hardness are separate scales.
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Historical USD/kg snapshots. Read each listing’s sale/from qualifiers, spool mass, source date, shipping and tax notes. Product figures are separate from the material summary.
No specific product listings are recorded yet. The sourced material properties remain available above.