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Materials data

FDM Materials Compared: PLA, PETG, ABS, ASA, and PA12 by the Numbers

Nozzle4 ·

Most “which filament should I use” content ranks materials by vague adjectives: PLA is easy, ABS is tough, nylon is flexible. Adjectives don’t tell you whether a part will survive at 70°C or snap at 3% strain. Here are the actual numbers, pulled from manufacturer datasheets rather than averaged-out summaries.

One thing worth saying before the table: these numbers are brand-specific, not universal material constants. PLA from one manufacturer and PLA from another can differ by several MPa depending on formulation and pellet source. Treat this as “what these specific tested products measured,” not “what PLA is.”

Material (tested product) Tensile strength Elongation at break Heat deflection temp Print temp Bed temp
PLA (Prusament) 51-59 MPa (horizontal/vertical) 2.9-3.2% 55°C @ 0.45 and 1.8 MPa 210±10°C 40-60°C
PETG (Prusament) 47-50 MPa (horizontal/vertical) 5.1% 68°C @ 0.45 and 1.8 MPa 250±10°C 80±10°C
ASA (Prusament) 42-45 MPa (horizontal/vertical) 3.4-3.8% 86°C @ 1.8 MPa, 93°C @ 0.45 MPa 260±10°C 110±5°C
ABS (Fillamentum Extrafill) 39 MPa yield / 32 MPa at break 20% 81°C @ 1.8 MPa 220-240°C 80-105°C
PA12 Nylon (Fiberlogy) 45 MPa yield over 50% not published by manufacturer 255-270°C 90-110°C

A few things worth reading directly out of this table rather than taking our word for.

PLA tests strongest in tensile yield and PETG has by far the lowest heat deflection temperature after PLA, which contradicts the common assumption that PETG is a straightforward “better PLA.” It prints hotter and sticks better to some parts, but 68°C HDT means a PETG part left on a dashboard in direct sun is a real risk, not a hypothetical one.

ABS elongation at break sits at 20%, roughly six to seven times PLA’s 2.9-3.2%. That’s the actual number behind “ABS is tougher”: it deforms substantially before it fails, where PLA yields at low strain and cracks. ASA sits closer to PLA on this axis (3.4-3.8%) despite having much better UV and heat resistance, so ASA is not simply “outdoor ABS” in ductility terms.

PA12 nylon’s manufacturer didn’t publish an HDT figure at all for the plain (non-reinforced) grade in the documentation we could find, which is itself a useful data point: if HDT matters for your application and you’re evaluating nylon, that’s a question to ask the material supplier directly rather than assume from the “nylon is heat resistant” reputation glass- or carbon-filled nylon grades earn.

None of this replaces printing your own test part in the actual geometry and orientation you need. Datasheet values come from injection-molded or optimally-oriented printed specimens under controlled lab conditions; a thin-walled vertical part will not perform identically to the test bar the MPa figure above came from.

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