TPE Filament Solvent

[David Yu]

There are probably a lot of varieties of Flexible TPE TPU out there.

Anyone successfully smooth a part printed in flexible? Looking for a solution like ABS and acetone.

I use Esun Flexible and Acetone causes the filament to swell and layers delaminates. It doesn't dissolve the filament, Just degrades it.

[Ryan Carlyle]

Hmm. That's a good question. It's almost impossible to answer with any certainty because we don't know what polymers are used, aside from the very general fact that they're all polyurethanes. (And asking for polyurethane solvents is about as specific as asking"what foods do mammals like?")

DMSO or NMP or DMF might work as a liquid dip. DMSO is reasonably low toxicity, the others I would avoid contact with women who are or may become pregnant. (You don't want to get any of them on your skin.) But none of them are anywhere near volatile enough for vapor polishing. My concern is that you'll soften the surface and then it will take ages to re-harden unless you have something like a vacuum chamber to extract the residual solvent. 

I'm thinking heat is a better approach... heat gun or touch-up iron. 

[jimc]

The current esun flexible i believe is a flexible pla. Its more of a flexible plastic rather than rubber like ninjaflex is. I would try a solvent that works with pla and see if that works for you. I know nothing works for the rubbers like ninjaflex.

[David Yu]

This is Esun Flex. It's like rubber coating of electrical wires. 

[Ryan Carlyle]

If it's a flexible PLA, 1) I have no idea what that means chemically since it would have to blended or modified like crazy, and 2) you could try THF or DCM but don't use them indoors. 

[jimc]

There is currently only one esun flex available which is the flexible plastic. I believe it to be a flex pla like ecoflex and others. There are 2 other esun flex out there in development that many of us have gotten test samples of. These are more like rubber band material that will stretch and rebound instantly. Almost exactly like ninjaflex. These will not dissolve in any solvents i am aware of. If you have the original flex then try the solvents that ryan listed

[David Yu]

Thanks guys. I also had at least 4 esun flex development samples. Some are like rubber band and some won't rebound.

I'm using the production Flex

I'll contact Esun to see if they can shed some light on the material

[Ryan Carlyle]

If you're talking to Esun, ask them about solvents, I'd imagine they probably have something for cleaning dies and whatnot. 

[David Yu]

Confirmed . Flexible PLA

[Ryan Carlyle]

I still don't know what "flexible PLA" actually means. Elastomers tend to have a certain type of chemical structure, and regular PLA doesn't have it. So there's got to be done significant quantity of something else in it.