17-4PH is a general purpose stainless steel alloy, frequently utilized for its strength and ability to withstand significant wear, heat, and corrosion. It can be heat treated, polished, machined, welded, and 3D printed. It is often used for industrial applications such as grippers, lathe jaws, fixtures, brackets, high-wear tooling, functional prototypes, and custom wrenches and sockets. 17-4PH filament is the Metal X System’s most popular metal material. Updating the Metal X System’s first 17-4PH formulation with a new binder material makes this stainless steel filament easier for users to handle and print parts.
Comparing 17-4PH Stainless Steel Filaments: v1 and v2
The 17-4PH Stainless Steel v2 filament for the Metal X features the same metal powder with an updated binder material.
Preserving the v1 filament’s strength, durability, and corrosion resistance, v2’s updated binder material results in a significantly more flexible and less brittle filament. The metal powder is exactly the same. Altering the composition of the binder — with a new material and percent volume — is what produces 17-4PH v2 filament’s improved material properties.
Compared to v1, 17-4PH v2 on the Metal X is easier to handle. It’s more flexible, making it easy to store, easy to handle at room temperature, and far less fragile. 17-4PH v2 also features improved mechanical properties, being stronger and with better isotropic characteristics.
The v2 formulation is also faster to load and comes in larger spools. It can be loaded into an unheated chamber, and print for twice as long before the spool of filament must be replaced. This significantly reduces startup and material changeover times.
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