Printrbot Talk Forum

I began looking around today to see if anyone made a conductive TPU filament for a product I've been working on; an . I've found two suppliers so far: which looks promising, but the entire check out page is in Swedish, & there's but I don't want to pay $45 for a measly 100g.

Does anyone know where else I might be able to get my hands on a roll of Conductive TPU?

-Kelly

Several years ago, I was trying to find conductive epoxy (no, not for 3D printing, and not flexible). The best that I could find was extremely expensive, and even at that it wasn't particularly a good conductor. Basically, it was an epoxy mixed with a high proportion of finely-ground silver, which accounts for the expense.

I've heard that there are organic (i.e. plastic) conductors nowadays, and carbon nanotubes can be conducting, but I doubt you'll find an inexpensive, flexible plastic that's anywhere close to being a good conductor of electricity. And as the plastic flexes, expect the quality of conduction to vary with the deformation and also have residual changes after the deformation is over. It's a really tough problem, and if anyone does come up with a very cheap and reliable way of making excellent electrical conductors that are truly flexible, expect a huge explosion of applications in smart clothing, automation robots, etc. etc. Since we don't see that right now, that tells you the problem hasn't been cracked.

I recommend instead using standard plastics and then conductive paints or very fine springs to minimize your expense while achieving some degree of conduction.