How to Read MakerVerse’s Material Sheets

Making the material selection process easier and clearer for you.

The material selection process is crucial for any manufacturing project.

At MakerVerse, we provide comprehensive material data sheets to help you make informed decisions for the most popular 3D printing technologies. These data sheets are your roadmap to understanding a material’s suitability for your specific application, offering insights ranging from chemical composition to mechanical and electrical characteristics.

To help make your next project a success, this article will guide you through reading and interpreting these data sheets.

Material sheets are available for:

Understanding Chemical Composition

Chemical composition for Inconel® 625, an LPBF material.

Chemical composition is the backbone of a material’s identity, informing you about the elements and compounds that constitute it. This foundational knowledge is critical as it affects everything from the material’s reactivity to its environmental impact.

On MakerVerse data sheets for metals, you’ll find this information neatly laid out at the top.

Use our interactive technology and material advisor to determine the best combination for your project.

Mechanical Properties

The mechanical properties section of our data sheets highlight a material’s strength and flexibility.

Tensile strength, measured in Megapascale (mPA), is the material’s resistance to breaking under tension.
Tensile modulus and elongation at break reveal how much a material can stretch before it snaps.
Flexural modulus shows the material’s ability to resist deformation under load.
IZOD impact strength highlights how much energy a material can absorb before fractures. To measure notched IZOD impact strength, the material receives a V-shaped notch before testing to serve as a stress concentrator and simulate the behavior of material that may have real-life flaws or defects.

These metrics are vital for ensuring the durability and performance of your 3D-printed parts in real-world applications.

Tolerances

Tolerances are all about precision.

The data sheets detail the achievable part accuracy to show you exactness you can expect from your prints. You’ll also find information on the minimum wall thickness, pivotal for design accuracy and material efficiency.

Relative Density information helps estimate the weight and heft of the final print, crucial for applications where weight is a determining factor.

Thermal Properties

Thermal properties dictate how a material behaves under various temperature conditions—a crucial consideration for objects that will encounter heat in their application. There are several different factors, depending on the material.

Heat Deflection: Indicates the temperature at which material deforms under a specific load, crucial for parts exposed to heat.

Vicat Softening Temperature: Marks the temperature where the material begins to soften, important for assessing heat-induced malleability.

Dimensional Stability Under Heat: Measures a material’s ability to retain its shape under thermal stress at pressures like 4.6 bar and 18.2 bar, essential for precision components.

Glass Transition Temperature: The temperature limit where material transitions from rigid to flexible, guiding the selection process for parts requiring thermal durability.

Start Your Manufacturing Project

With MakerVerse’s material data sheets, you can embark on your 3D printing journey with clarity and confidence. The detailed breakdowns of chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties equip you with a deeper understanding of how each material will perform in specific environments and applications.

Whether you’re crafting a delicate prototype or a robust production part, our data sheets help you explore, experiment, and engineer with the right information at your fingertips.