Bambu Lab PPA-CF Filament 1.75mm 750g

$149.00

The strongest filament Bambu make, and the strongest thing we sell. Carbon-fibre reinforced semi-aromatic nylon: 168 MPa tensile strength, 11,800 MPa stiffness and heat deflection at 196°C. For comparison, our next strongest material, PA6-CF, manages 102 MPa and 4,430 MPa.

This is an industrial material — mechanical prototypes, automotive components, tooling, end-use engineering parts.

This one is demanding. Check your printer first. It needs a 50–80°C chamber, a 100–120°C bed and 280–310°C at the nozzle, on an enclosed printer — not the open-frame A-series. In the Bambu range the H2S, H2D and H2C handle the full range comfortably. Use a hardened steel nozzle, 0.6mm recommended — not 0.2mm, and not the 0.4mm high-flow.

Feed from an external spool holder — the AMS series is not compatible. Bambu note that PPA-CF's rigidity and hardness make it prone to wearing or fracturing inside AMS gears and PTFE tubes.

At a glance

Density	1.25 g/cm³
Nozzle temp	280–310°C
Bed temp	100–120°C
Enclosure	Required — 50–80°C chamber
Print speed	Up to 100 mm/s
Nozzle	Hardened steel, 0.6mm recommended
Compatibility	AMS Lite AMS / AMS 2 Pro

How far ahead it is

	PPA-CF	PA6-CF	PC
Tensile strength	168 MPa	102 MPa	62 MPa
Bending strength	208 MPa	151 MPa	108 MPa
Stiffness	11,800 MPa	4,430 MPa	2,110 MPa
Heat deflection	196°C	164°C	117°C

And it barely notices humidity. Bambu's own dry-versus-humid testing puts PPA-CF at 208 → 202 MPa bending strength and 9860 → 9620 MPa stiffness — a loss of around 3%. PA6-CF, by contrast, loses 37% of its bending strength when damp. For Singapore that difference is worth more than it looks on paper.

It also has better chemical resistance than ordinary nylon across the board — weak acids, weak alkalis, most organic solvents, oils and greases.

The number that matters most

Across layers it is a fraction of itself. Tensile drops from 168 MPa to 57 MPa, bending from 208 to 63, and breaking elongation from 3.2% to 0.9%. A part loaded across its layers has barely a third of the strength and almost no give before it snaps.

With a material this expensive and this strong, orientation is the whole design problem. Bambu also note that running a hotter chamber (70–80°C) measurably improves the Z-direction figures — worth doing if your printer allows it.

Worth knowing

The spool is cardboard, rated to 145°C — deliberately, so you can dry the whole spool at 100–140°C without it deforming. Hotter is better within that range. A plastic spool would melt.

Glue stick is required, and the Cool Plate SuperTack is not compatible.

Annealing is a trade here, not a free win: 120–140°C for 6 to 12 hours improves some properties but Bambu warn toughness can decrease. Test before committing.

Use Support for PA/PET, cooling fan on.

Bambu's usage guide for the carbon-fibre grades covers feeding, drying and the dry-versus-humid data in full: PET-CF / PPA-CF / PPS-CF / PA6-CF Usage Guide

Full specifications

Printing

Nozzle temperature280–310°C

Nozzle size0.6 mm recommended
hardened steel; not 0.2 mm;
0.4 mm high-flow not advised

Bed temperature100–120°C

Chamber temperature50–80°C

Build plateGlue stick required
Cool Plate SuperTack

Print speedUp to 100 mm/s

Support materialSupport for PA/PET

Drying & storage

Drying100–140°C for 8–12 hours

Spool materialCardboard, rated to 145°C

HumidityUnder 20% RH, sealed

Annealing120–140°C for 6–12 hours
toughness may decrease

Thermal

Density1.25 g/cm³

Melting temperature258°C

Vicat softening232°C

Heat deflection196°C at 1.8 MPa
227°C at 0.45 MPa

Mechanical

Tensile strength (X–Y)168 ± 4 MPa
57 ± 5 MPa (Z)

Young's modulus (X–Y)11800 ± 670 MPa

Bending strength (X–Y)208 ± 6 MPa dry
202 MPa when humid

Impact strength (X–Y)41.7 ± 2.8 kJ/m²
6.5 ± 2.3 notched

Figures from the Bambu Lab PPA-CF technical data sheet v1.0, measured at 52°C chamber, with nozzle, build-plate, compatibility and dry-versus-humid data from Bambu's carbon-fibre filament usage guide. Bambu note a hotter chamber (70–80°C) yields higher figures, particularly in Z.