Thermoplastic
Nylon (PA)
Strong, tough, wear resistant, and it absorbs water.
Published values for unfilled grades at 23 °C unless stated. Confirm against the supplier datasheet for the grade you specify.
What it is
Nylon is the workhorse engineering thermoplastic: high strength, high toughness, excellent abrasion resistance, and good performance against fuels, oils, and greases. Glass-filled grades reach stiffness and heat resistance that put them in direct competition with die-cast aluminum.
The property you must design around is moisture. Nylon absorbs 2–3 % water at equilibrium, which swells the part by roughly 0.5 %, softens it, and roughly doubles its impact strength. Published dry-as-molded data does not describe the part you will have in service.
Where it is used
- Gears, cams, bushings, and bearing cages
- Structural brackets and housings in glass-filled grades
- Cable ties, clips, and fasteners
- Under-bonnet automotive components
- Printed functional parts in PA12 and PA11
Processing notes
Dry hard: below 0.15 % moisture, 4 hours at 80 °C, and mold straight from the dryer.
Melt 240–280 °C (PA6) or 275–295 °C (PA66), mold 80–100 °C. Hot tools are needed for full crystallinity and dimensional stability.
Condition finished parts in warm water or a humidity chamber if dimensions must be right at first fit rather than after weeks on a shelf.
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Design notes
Size mating features for the conditioned part, not the as-molded part. A 100 mm dimension can grow 0.5 mm.
Glass fill raises stiffness and heat sharply but makes the part notch sensitive and warp prone, particularly on flat panels.
Metal inserts should be ultrasonically installed rather than molded in, to avoid stress cracks around the boss.
Grades and variants
- PA6, easier to process, tougher, absorbs more water
- PA66, higher melting point and stiffness, better creep resistance
- PA6 GF30 / PA66 GF30, glass filled, the metal-replacement grades
- PA12 and PA11, low moisture absorption, the standard SLS printing polymers
- MoS₂ or PTFE filled, for dry-running bearings
Specifying this material?
Send your CAD and target volumes. We come back with a price, a lead time, and any material or design notes that would reduce either.