Materials commonly used for CNC machining

Common grades: 6061, 7075, 2024

Features: Aluminum alloy is light in weight, high in strength, easy to process, and has good thermal and electrical conductivity. It is often used in the manufacture of parts in the aerospace, automotive, electronics and other industries.

Common grades: 304, 316, 303.

Features: Stainless steel has excellent corrosion resistance and mechanical properties, high strength, and beautiful surface. It is widely used in medical equipment, food processing equipment, chemical equipment and other fields

Common grades: 1018, 1045, A36.

Features: Carbon steel has high hardness and strength, low cost, but is easy to rust. It is often used in the manufacture of structural parts, shaft parts, tools.

Common grades: C110 (pure copper), C360 (brass).

Features: Copper alloy has excellent electrical and thermal conductivity, good corrosion resistance, easy processing, and is commonly used in electrical components, connectors, heat exchangers

Common grades: Ti-6Al-4V.

Features: Titanium alloy has high strength, corrosion resistance, and high temperature resistance, but it is expensive and difficult to process. It is often used in high-end fields such as aerospace, medical implants, and racing parts.

Common grades: AZ31B.

Features: Magnesium alloy is extremely light, has good strength, has excellent shock absorption performance, is easy to process, and is commonly used in automobiles, aerospace, electronic product housings.

Common grades: D2, A2, O1.

Features: Tool steel has high hardness, high wear resistance and toughness, and is suitable for making wear-resistant parts such as cutting tools and molds.

ABS is an easy-to-machine material with good dimensional stability and mechanical strength. In CNC machining, ABS shows good cutability and is not easy to produce cracks or deformation, which makes it suitable for making complex shaped parts.

Application: ABS is widely used in the automotive industry, home appliance housings, electronic products, as well as toys and pipe fittings.

Nylon is known for its high strength, high toughness and good abrasion resistance, with a low coefficient of friction and good chemical resistance.

Application: Nylon is widely used in mechanical parts, automotive parts, electrical insulation materials, and industrial textiles

PMMA has excellent transparency, with a light transmission rate of up to 92 per cent, and is known as ‘Plexiglass’. It has good weather resistance, UV resistance and surface hardness, and is lighter than glass, CNC can be processed with high precision and smooth surface.PMMA is easy to process, and can be processed into a variety of shapes by cutting, engraving, thermoforming and other methods.

Application: PMMA is mainly used in the manufacture of transparent products, such as optical lenses, lighting lampshades, transparent water tanks, display racks, billboards, aircraft portholes, automotive taillights, as well as transparent parts in medical equipment.

PEEK is a high performance engineering plastic with excellent mechanical strength, high temperature resistance, chemical resistance and wear resistance. It maintains good dimensional stability at high temperatures and has good radiation resistance and low smoke toxicity.

Application: PEEK is widely used in aerospace, automotive industry, semiconductor manufacturing, medical devices, oil and gas industry and high-end electronic equipment

Common Plastic Materials for injection molding maerials

Pros: ABS has good impact resistance, toughness and abrasion resistance, is easy to machine and has a high surface finish. It also has good chemical and heat resistance and can withstand moderate temperature applications.

Cons: ABS has poor weather resistance and is susceptible to UV rays, which can lead to discolouration and degradation of material properties after prolonged exposure to the outdoors. In addition, ABS is not as chemically resistant as other plastics such as PE and PP.

Application: ABS is widely used in appliance housings, automotive interior parts, toys, tool housings, and daily necessities.

Pros: PP has excellent chemical resistance, heat resistance, fatigue resistance and abrasion resistance. It has low density, is lighter than other plastics and has high toughness.

Cons: PP has low surface hardness and impact resistance, and tends to become brittle at low temperatures. In addition, PP is sensitive to UV rays and ages easily, but its weather resistance can be improved by adding anti-UV agents.

Application : PP is commonly used in food packaging, home appliances, automotive parts, tubing, medical devices, and textiles

Pros: PE has excellent chemical resistance, impact resistance and low temperature toughness. It has very low water absorption and good insulating properties.PE is easy to process and less expensive, suitable for mass production.

Cons: PE's hardness is low, easy to scratch and deformation, its high-temperature performance is poor, heat resistance is not good. In addition, PE has low surface energy and is not easy to bond or paint.

Application : PE is widely used in packaging materials, pipes, containers, toys, wire and cable outer skin, and construction materials.

Pros: Acrylic has high transparency, excellent weather and UV resistance, high surface hardness and good scratch resistance.

Cons: Acrylic is more brittle, less impact resistant, easy to deform under high temperature.

Application: Acrylic is commonly used in the manufacture of optical components (such as lenses, lampshades), advertising signs, display racks, transparent water tanks, automotive taillights, and architectural decorative materials.

Pros: POM has high mechanical strength, hardness and rigidity, good abrasion resistance, low coefficient of friction, fatigue resistance and heat resistance.

Cons: POM has poor UV resistance and will degrade when exposed to sunlight for long periods of time. It has weak chemical resistance, especially to acids and bases. In addition, POM is more costly.

Application: POM is widely used in mechanical parts, automotive parts, electronic products, home appliance parts, and precision instruments.

Pros: PA has high strength, high toughness, good abrasion and chemical resistance, fatigue resistance and impact resistance, but also has good self-lubricating and electrical insulation.

Cons: PA high moisture absorption, easy to absorb water resulting in dimensional changes and performance degradation. In addition, PA's processability is poor, processing needs to pay attention to temperature control to prevent material degradation.

Application: PA is suitable for the manufacture of gears, bearings, pulleys, mechanical parts, electrical insulation materials, automotive parts (such as fuel tanks, pipes), and industrial textiles.

Cons: PC's chemical resistance is general, easy to be corroded by some solvents, poor scratch resistance. pc's density is higher, the cost is relatively high.

Application: PC is widely used in automotive lampshades, electronic product housings, optical lenses, safety helmets, protective shields, medical device housings, as well as high-performance components for construction and aerospace applications.

Cons: PS has poor impact resistance and toughness and is prone to brittle cracking. It is also weak in heat resistance and chemical resistance, and will deform or degrade when exposed to high temperatures or chemicals for long periods of time.

Application: PS is mainly used in food packaging (e.g. disposable tableware, transparent containers), household appliance shells, toys, models, optical parts, and construction materials (e.g. heat-insulating panels, lightweight wall panels).

Cons: TPU's heat resistance is low, and it is easy to soften or deform at high temperatures. In addition, the processing conditions of TPU are more demanding, and it is easy to produce processing defects, such as bubbles or flow marks.

Application: TPU is commonly used in hoses, cable sheaths, automotive parts, medical devices, sports equipment, and 3D printing materials.

Pros: TPR combines the advantages of rubber and plastic, with good elasticity, flexibility and anti-slip, good oil resistance, abrasion resistance and weather resistance.

Cons: TPR's heat resistance is general, long-term use in a high-temperature environment is easy to lose elasticity.

Application: TPR is widely used in shoe soles, toys, seals, hoses, wire and cable sheathing, handles and household goods and other areas that require elasticity and flexibility.