The ‘Brightest’ Glow-in-the-Dark Filament? Prusa Launches PETG Ultraglow

Detailed in a blog post this week, the new release strikes a balance between functionality and aesthetics. It uses the company’s Prusament clear PETG as a durable base material that pushes the prints’ possibilities into more practical avenues than regular PLA-based glow-in-the-darks, and makes it UV-reactively pop with lashings and lashings of strontium aluminate as the luminescent filler. How much strontium aluminate? “As much as physically possible,” they say.

This filler comes at a cost, though, the post states. We’ve always known that glow-in-the-dark filaments are abrasive and should be printed with hardened nozzles, but the Prusa team here state that strontium aluminate is the “hardest material we ever used”, accelerating the wear and tear on the machines they use to make the filament, let alone your printer when you use it. A hardened steel nozzle is the essential, minimum requirement, as is printing with larger-than standard bore nozzles to avoid clogging.

Zooming out from the extrusion side of the process, you might even see your extruder gears and filament guide tubes affected by Ultraglow’s abrasiveness, so taking steps to minimize friction in the filament path is advised, too.

Prusament has always been on the premium end of the filament spectrum when it comes to pricing, so it’s no surprise that a spool of specialty material like this costs a pretty penny, too. An 800 g spool of Prusament PETG Ultraglow Green will set you back $82.99, including fees, making it one of Prusament’s priciest PETGs (second only to the 75% Tungsten, at $249.99 for 1 kg). On the flip side of this, the company does also offer an alternative in its Buddy3D Glow in the Dark PLA, $50.99 for 1 kg.

Initially available in Ultraglow Green, other colors will follow, the post says.

What Can You Do With Glow-in-the-Dark Material?

Aside from the obvious of anything you usually print, but now it glows, there are practical applications that benefit from Ultraglow’s PETG base. Signage particularly, is one of the examples cited, with building exit signs getting a night-time boost from luminescence. A key guide for a lock is something I know I’d benefit from, as evidenced by the spider’s web of scratch marks around the lock on my front door.

We have a list of aesthetic and decorative prints that benefit from a pop of glow-in-the-dark filament, but I suspect the real value lies in household and EDC items you often interact with in the dark.

Prusament PETG Ultraglow Green is available to buy now from the Prusa webstore.

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