Thermoplastic · Polyolefin
AdvancedPolypropylene
Polypropylene
Chemically inert, fatigue-proof, and the king of living hinges. Notoriously warpy and hard to stick down.
Print temperatures
Nozzle 220–250 °C Bed 80–105 °C
PP is one of the world's highest-volume plastics — packaging, living-hinge bottle caps, automotive. Its invention is a genuinely contested story: Natta gets the textbook credit and a Nobel, but Phillips' Hogan & Banks won the US patent fight.
In FDM it's a niche material: chemically inert and fatigue-resistant, but notoriously hard to print because of severe warping and poor bed adhesion — it sticks best to itself (PP packing tape).
Strengths & trade-offs
- Excellent fatigue resistance — the best living hinges
- Chemically inert / great chemical resistance
- Lightweight and watertight
- Food-contact capable
- Flexible-tough
- Severe warping — terrible bed adhesion
- Needs a PP-tape bed surface
- Semi-crystalline shrinkage
- Few good filament options
- Finicky throughout
Best for
Living hingesChemical-resistant containersLab and food partsFatigue-cycling partsWatertight enclosures
Did you know
- Polypropylene's invention is genuinely disputed: Natta (1954) gets the name and Nobel, but the US Patent Office ruled Phillips' Hogan & Banks (1951) the inventors of crystalline PP.
- PP makes the best living hinges in 3D printing — it can flex hundreds of thousands of cycles without cracking.
- PP sticks so poorly that the standard trick is to print onto packing tape made of… polypropylene.
