Prusa Research has added a material to its Prusament line that is aimed less at the hobby shelf and more at the electronics bench. Prusament PETG ESD is a carbon-filled PETG with electrostatic-dissipative properties, and Prusa's product page is specific about how it gets there: the static-dissipating behavior comes from carbon nanotubes rather than the conductive carbon black used in many conductive compounds. On top of the nanotubes, the filament carries carbon fiber reinforcement, which Prusa credits for thermal resistance and dimensional stability. The intended jobs are the unglamorous ones that keep a production line running: PCB holders, soldering fixtures, IC trays and test jigs.
It is not the first ESD filament on the market, and Prusa has not yet published the mechanical numbers an engineer would want before committing a line to it. But the combination of nanotubes and fiber in one spool is new, and the launch pricing puts it well below the established alternatives.
Two Kinds of Carbon, Two Different Jobs
The interesting design choice here is that Prusa is using carbon for two separate purposes. The nanotubes handle the electrical side: they give the plastic a controlled path for charge to bleed away, so a part does not build up a static potential that can discharge into a sensitive component. The carbon fiber handles the mechanical side, adding stiffness and helping the part hold its shape under heat.
That second role matters more than it might seem. Fixtures and trays are only useful if they are dimensionally faithful; a PCB nest that has warped a fraction of a millimeter stops seating boards cleanly. Prusa says the material shows little to no warping even on large models, which, if it holds up, makes it practical for the kind of wide, flat parts that trays and multi-board holders tend to be. The finish is a slightly rough matte black.
Prusa also addresses the obvious question about nanotubes in a consumer material, stating on the product page that the nanotubes do not release into the surroundings, which it says makes the filament safe for housings and other structural components of sensitive electronic equipment. That is the manufacturer's claim, and the page does not point to independent testing.
According to Tom's Hardware, which covered the launch on November 11, Prusa describes the mechanical trade-off as similar to its existing PETG Carbon Fiber: increased stiffness and reduced toughness. Anyone who has printed fiber-filled PETG will recognize the profile. Parts come out rigid and accurate but less forgiving of impact or flexing than plain PETG.
Prusa Is Its Own First Customer
Prusa says it already uses the material in-house, and the example it gives is a neat illustration of what a dissipative plastic does beyond protecting chips. When the company powder-coats its print sheets, some particles accumulate on the bottom edges and cause an uneven coating. It prints a fixture from PETG ESD that attracts part of the paint, preventing unwanted overcoating. Prusa adds that the material let it make a functional rapid prototype and test it in a real environment before making the fixture in metal in large quantities.
That is a useful hint for makers thinking about applications. ESD filaments are usually framed around protecting components, but anywhere static charge causes trouble, from coating lines to handling fixtures, the same characteristic can be the point.
The Competition, and the Price Question
Prusa is entering a niche that other filament makers opened first. Tom's Hardware notes that 3DXTech and Polymaker both reached the market with ESD filaments before Prusa, and it lists 3DXTech's ESD-PETG at $105 and Polymaker's Fiberon PETG-ESD at $65.98. Where Prusa claims a first is in the formulation: according to the report, it is the first to pair carbon fiber reinforcement with carbon nanotubes in an ESD filament.
Pricing for Prusa's own spool is less settled. Tom's Hardware puts it at $56.99 for the 1 kg spool and notes that this is cheaper than the non-ESD Prusament PETG Carbon Fiber. When FilamentFeed checked Prusa's US product page, however, it listed the spool at $52.69 and marked it out of stock. The gap may reflect a launch adjustment, a sale or simply a moving target in the first days of sales; buyers should check the store at the time of purchase. Either figure puts Prusa's ESD PETG meaningfully below both competitors cited, and well below the 3DXTech option in particular.
The out-of-stock listing is worth noting on its own. A material aimed at production fixtures is only useful if a shop can get it reliably, and early availability is something to watch.
What Prusa Has and Has Not Said
The biggest gap at launch is mechanical documentation. Per Tom's Hardware, Prusa had not published a technical datasheet with strength figures. Beyond the qualitative comparison to PETG Carbon Fiber, there are no published numbers for tensile strength, impact resistance or heat deflection.
The electrical side is better covered. Prusa's technical parameters list a volume resistance of 7.7x106 Ω, a surface resistance of 7.1x105 Ω on the top layer and 1.6x106 Ω on the bottom layer. The page also says conductivity slightly increases with printing temperature, and that surface resistance does not change with model geometry and print profiles. The recommended settings are a 265 ± 10 °C nozzle, a 90 ± 10 °C bed and a 0.4 mm hardened nozzle, and Prusa recommends drying the filament at 65 °C for 6 to 8 hours before printing.
For a hobbyist printing a soldering-station holder, that may be plenty. For anyone working to an ESD control program, the measured values are a starting point, not a qualification: Prusa's figures are the manufacturer's own, and a fixture still has to be verified against your own resistance requirements in the finished part. Until the datasheet arrives, treat the material as promising rather than proven for controlled environments.
What It Means for Makers
The practical pitch, as Tom's Hardware frames it, is cutting the need for CNC-machined ESD trays and fixtures. That is a real cost and lead-time argument. A machined tray for a one-off board revision is expensive and slow; a printed nest can be redesigned and reprinted quickly, on-site. Use cases cited include PCB fixtures and soldering holders, IC trays and multi-board test holders, all parts that change every time a design does.
For small electronics shops, repair benches and makers who assemble their own boards, a cheaper ESD-safe PETG with low warp and good dimensional stability lowers the barrier to building purpose-made fixtures instead of improvising with whatever is on hand. Tom's Hardware also points to indie hardware developers and smaller-scale manufacturers as plausible users. The stiffness-over-toughness trade-off suits that role: trays and nests need to be rigid and accurate, not to survive drops.
The caveats are equally practical. Wait for the datasheet if you need to meet a specification. Prusa says the filament requires a hardened nozzle and is hygroscopic, so plan on drying it, and confirm current pricing and stock before planning around it. If those check out, Prusament PETG ESD looks like the most accessible route yet to printed static-safe tooling.
