This is great news for at-home print enthusiasts looking for a filament that offers superior durability.

In a blog post, Prusa Research says that PA11 is “suitable for the automotive industry, but also great for printing durable mechanical parts at home”. Examples include “components for drones and gears”.

Prusament’s new filament comprises two materials; PA11 made from castor oil and added chopped carbon fibers that are recycled. Prusament encourages users to be eco-friendly after use, explaining how the spools can be disassembled after use and recycled.

Prusa Research is known for forging its own path and has used a formulation of polyamide that’s atypical for desktop printable filament.

Typically used for powders in selective powder sintering (SLS), PA11 is a low-hygroscopy, low-warp type of polyamide compared to the more commonly seen PA6 and PA12 variants. After a lot of testing, the company concluded that “PA11 is a good middle ground – it’s less hygroscopic and offers better adhesion to the PEI print sheet (for small and medium-sized models).

The filament has a black color which comes from the added carbon fiber. Prusament explains that the carbon makes the material “virtually non-warping” but warns that “compared to pure polyamide, it has slightly weaker interlayer adhesion”.

The filament is said to be particularly good at creating heat-resistant parts such as an exhaust pipe or gears and pulleys – anywhere intense movements could cause friction (or breakage) in a less durable material.

In the same blog, the company goes on to announce they are also releasing a new printing sheet, explicitly designed to work with polyamides. It’s a matte texture with a new surface layer that provides better adhesion for the new filament.

So if you’re itching to print a drone or tinker around with printing car parts (and you have a higher-temp printer such as Prusa Research’s i3 MK3S+, plus a steel nozzle), Prusament has this new option to try out.

At $94.99 for one spool, this isn’t the cheapest spool on the market, but it certainly sounds like performance outweighs the price.