Im printing out a part for a customer and I wanted to know if abs will work or if I need to go to petg or nylon or even carbon fiber reinforced. The part will be used in a water turbine. The part will be at a constant 60 psi with water biting. It and there might be A few rocks in the water.
Hi!
ABS that has been printed properly can be very strong. However, most ABS prints I’ve seen all suffer from the same problem. They have been printed in a too cold environment, i.e on a machine without a heated chamber. So, if you have a heated chamber on your printer you shouldn’t have any problem with getting really strong prints. What you can do (if the print looks fine off the printer) is to anneal it. I usually heat my ABS-prints to the highest temperature possible without them deforming fir a couple of hours, and then cool them down very slowly (I usually just switch my oven off and let them sit in it until it has cooled down).
Given your description I would personally stay as far away from carbon fibre reinforced filaments as is possible, since these most often makes for very stiff parts that can’t take much abuse before shattering.
Personally I would use PETG as it is the toughest of the three and can take much bending and impacts before breaking. I think the best way for you to decide is to do some destructive testing. Print a few of them, fire up the pressure washer and see what happens. You might also find an air rifle to be useful to simulate the occasional stone. Only then you will know for sure which one will survive best.
Good luck
Oscar
Most nylons perform very poorly in submerged applications because they absorb water, which affects their properties and dimensions.
PETG or ABS would be fine. I’m not a fan of ABS. In my experience there is always a material that out performs ABS in just about any scenario (and I hate the smell!).
If it were my customer, I would recommend ASA (especially if this will be used outdoors).
-Jesse
