I'm trying to work out what filament is absolutely safe for prolonged contact with someones face. The contact may be for hours at a time and it's in terms of a facemask so they'll be breathing through it as well.
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2$\begingroup$ prolonged contact with face will pretty much always cause bad things. it beats prolonged contact with eyes though (glasses vs contacts). as for material safety itself, plastics and silicones tend to be considered enough to touch skin. do you plan to incorporate toxic pigmentation into your plastic as some toys did once upon a time? $\endgroup$– AbelCommented Nov 6, 2021 at 20:29
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$\begingroup$ @Abel no, no painting or anything like that, I'm just trying to work out if I'll need to line the masks with cloth or something. $\endgroup$– KilisiCommented Nov 6, 2021 at 20:34
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$\begingroup$ although it shouldn't be done in this day and age, it is possible to melt toxic additives into plastic for the purpose of giving it a color rather than just to color the outside of the plastic. do also beware of print settings as microplastics breaking off a print would not be good to breathe. ie anything can become harmful under the right conditions. $\endgroup$– AbelCommented Nov 6, 2021 at 20:41
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2$\begingroup$ raw pla is a clearish white. raw abs is a fugly cream color. i never got any filament containing toxic pigment but i dealt with enough out-of-spec material (metal) that I'd ask the supplier and thoroughly test a first article before making a product i sold. want of repeat business usually exceeds want to cut corners. $\endgroup$– AbelCommented Nov 6, 2021 at 21:03
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1$\begingroup$ The search term for finding the right material is “biocompatible”. They should have a certification and safety data sheet. There are also some antibacterial filaments that would resist germs incubating in all of the cracks and voids and layer lines. Expect to pay 3x-4x as much as regular filament. $\endgroup$– ChinchillaWafersCommented Nov 7, 2021 at 16:46
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