I’m sure many of us received the email from Bambu discussing the new filament, PLA Tough+. I noted in the ‘Cautions for use’ it states “Use in a well-ventilated environment”. As we are aware, when we print with PLA it normally opens the front vent and the rear is not exhausted thru the filters. I’m curious if they will change the profile for this material so that it exhausts thru the filter. Anyone know what additive they may be using to make this “tough”? I print in my home office and sometimes I’m working in here, I don’t want to use a material with this caution if it’s not going to seal the chamber and run thru the exhaust. Opinions on this?
ABS or PP. I’ll let you know when I smell it. Considering the ratio data from the TDS it could also be an elastomer (TPU) blend.
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They won’t disclose the exact component, its material sheet just says 10%-20% “additive”.
But judging by what is provided, the fumes is not even necessarily from those additives. PLA (Bambu basic) already gives out a strong burnt plastic-y smell at around 240C when you use it for cold pulls and this one prints default at 245C.
Without actually using it myself yet, the mechanical property figures they provided is extremely similar to that of PETG-HF, plus strong layer adhesion. And it’s still majority PLA so it will do PLA things. So imo if smell is a concern and normal filament Z strength satisfies you, just wait for PETG-HF restocks.
I will stick to CF and GF filaments for applications that require strength.
I do not like the sound of “use in a well-ventilated room”.
The cost of the material is also not ideal; it costs more, but it is essentially PLA.
The improvements are not across the board, as the tech details show.
The colour choice is strange, as has been the practice with recent releases.
A red-looking orange and no green. So it lacks both green and red, yet you get two greys!
The extra heat required to print it means it costs more in energy usage than typical PLA.
We are still missing a strong green, a strong yellow and clear in the PLA Translucent range.
TPU for AMS is still lacking a true green and an Orange.
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Actually think these colors make sense, they all fit that ‘hardware store tough plastic parts’ vibes, of course they needed two grey for that😏 (technically a silver, but probably is just glossy grey)
I don’t believe CF or GF actually add strength—at least not in a meaningful way. They’re mostly used for aesthetics or to improve printability (especially with materials like nylon).
If anything, in most tests I’ve seen, CF/GF versions tend to underperform compared to the base material.
Interestingly, Bambu’s datasheets show a slight increase in bending strength for PLA-CF and PETG-CF. But the improvement is minimal on paper, and it doesn’t match what I’ve seen in various independent tests (not specific to Bambu, to be fair).
What’s especially odd is the idea that bending strength would increase despite CF/GF usually reducing layer adhesion—which directly impacts bending resistance. Not sure how Bambu measures bending strength, but I’ve never seen those gains in real-world testing.
As for impact resistance, both bambu datasheets and the tests agree that CF/GF weakens prints
Yes, the purpose of CF/GF generally is not about Strength or Toughness. But it’s a misleading suggestion about what these fibers are good at. The real mechanical reasons are rigidity/stiffness, dimensional stability and temperature resistance (mostly talking about CFs here)
- Rigidity:
Not every print’s priority is to survive a drop and bounce. Not every print is large and thick enough so that even PETG feels like a hardened brick. Sometimes a print’s ability to resist bending is the highest priority, I have many such projects. - Dimensional Stability:
Besides ‘will it not warp’, it drastically improves the print’s dimensional accuracy, even for comparatively low cf % ones like Bambu’s PLA-CF. Sometimes one really needs that. - Also I’d add a word on “aesthetics”: the way just a small amount of fiber changes the cooling behavior also improves overhang, bridge quality, sharper corners, lessens hull lines. most know fiber hides layer lines but these are for different reasons, roughness is not enough to hide uneven outer walls when lightly painted.
One example: some love to dunk on PLA-CF for ‘not offering anything real’ but for one of my project, short of expensive CF-Nylons, PLA-CF was the only one able to offer the stiffness I needed for a thin part that deal with indirect slamming but not load bearing (stiffness was needed to not break off glued parts). It was also the best suited to still not lose too much details on complex geometry unlike (watery) nylons. I’ve tested PC, PETG-HF, etc and were all too soft and bouncy.
Some of the popularity is indeed just exotic hype, but a rational decision considering all the practical aspects will at times on CFs. Tbh PC is seriously overlooked given its strength, price, and PLA-like ease of printing (on H2D)
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This is cool, I usually don’t consider the cooling improvement from CF/GF and how it improves overhangs. Great point!
Can’t believe black in Australia is sold out already, but I bought the other 6.
Black sold out in about 2 hours here in the US.
I didn’t have any trouble ordering US black, but couldn’t get silver this morning. Had my bestie in Vancouver (thanks BTW!) order 3 rolls for me. Just looked now and silver is back in stock.