Arnitel

Introduction

According to Arnitel Eco page, “Arnitel® Eco material is a bio-based thermoplastic copolyester (TPE) that delivers high performance with the added benefit of a lower environmental impact. The material is 50% made from renewable resources, based on rapeseed oil instead of mineral oil. Yet…it performs outstandingly for demanding applications ranging from oven pan liners to consumer electronics to sports and leisure, automotive and furniture.”. [...] “The material has a melting point of up to 200°C, making it ideal for applications with peak temperatures close to the melting point. In fact, the material maintains consistent performance across its entire operating temperature from low to high extremes, outperforming other elastomers.”

According to 3D printing blog, “Arnitel is a high-performance ThermoPlastic Copolyester (TPC) that offers you a unique combination of flexibility, high temperature resistance and strength. Arnitel Eco is manufactured using renewable feedstock, in fact 50% of its content comes from renewable resources, and in particular, rapeseed oil instead of mineral oil. This elastic product outperforms conventional rubbers according to the manufacturer across a variety of applications, and is available in hardnesses ranging from 40 to 70 Shore D. The Arnitel Eco 3D printer filament can be used with any 3D printer that supports PLA filaments as you need to have an extruder temperature of about 230 degrees Celsius for the Arnitel when printing, the same as for PLA.”

Variants

Arnitel comes in various variants. It's hardness varies from 40 to 70 Shore D. The names of Arnitel variants (or rebrandings like InnoFlex) reflect that. E.g. "60" has a higher elongation than "40".

Specifications for printing.

Rumours on the Internet vary widely with respect to printing.

• temperature is from 210 to 260. It seems that more elastic Arnitel should printed cooler than lesser elastics (makes sense)
• Bed temperature from 55 to 110
• Print speed: from 40 to 80 mm/s. Faster is OK since flow isn't a problem with Arnitel, but probably produces less nice results.
• Keep the roll stored in plastic (same is true for most filaments ....)

I'd say, for starters, go as high as possible.

Printing tips

Using a Felix 2.0 printer

• Since Arnitel Eco doesn't stick well to the platform (it gets loose once it cools down), you will have to apply the whole bag of tricks:
  • heat the bed as much as you can, e.g. 70 degrees (however, the bed temperature for Arnitel D-45 rather should be around 110)
  • make sure that the print head is very close to the platform (1 sheet of paper),
  • You also should add a raft (underneath and extended at least 1 cm, so you can tape it down if gets loose
  • Print slower than for PLA printing, e.g. at 50 - 75% (but not too slow, or the extruder may clog)
  • Maybe add cooling loops (print circling without printing)
  • Add some sticky tape (so far I didn't try since I don't have any at hand).
  • Fan must be on of course

• Temperature: 220 ? ... though some folks seem to print with 205 degrees

• 0.2mm layers

Alternatives

• NinjaFlex and SemiFlex (made by [http://www.fennerdrives.com/ninjaflex3dprinting/_/3d/// Fenner Drives)

• Flex filament

Links

• Arnitel (Felix Printer Forum thread)
• Arnitel Eco page at DSM (producer)