Post-Processing?

Bambu Filament and Accesories Filament
1

On the Bambu filament guide, found here,

… what does post processing → annealing refer too?

Thanks,
Veronica

2

take a look at this vid from CNC Kitchen

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3

But a high level definition of “annealing” is “using heat to change the physical properties of a material”.

In the case of a FDM print, it means something different that for molded plastic or metals. Almost the opposite.

The plastic we print with is strongest when it’s in a semi crystalline state (the polymer chains are mostly aligned and ordered). But when we print, it comes out more amorphous, disorganized alignment of the polymers (because of the rapid heating and cooling of the extrusion process). Heating to below the melt point and keeping it there for a while, and then cooling slowly (the exact temperature cycle is filament dependent) allows the plastic to attain a more crystalline state and that makes it stronger. Also, the bond strength between layers can also be improved.

You can do this with just about anything, PLA even, and make it stronger. You just need to find the right thermal profile for your plastic. A kitchen oven can do it, but plastics outgas bad stuff you probably don’t want mixing with the next thing you cook. A dedicated oven is best.

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Thanks for all the information. The CNC kitchen video was very interesting.

5

The filament chart provides various performance parameters for each filament type. I am really looking to push some boundaries, especially in the operating temperature space. Is the HDT, specifically, for each filament type tested before or after Post-printing processing?