ForMatter/Materials/polymer/Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
mat_ptfe_teflon

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)

fully-fluorinated thermoplastic, lowest-friction polymer · PTFE, Teflon (Chemours brand), fluon (AGC brand)
highlast updated 2026-04-27

The slipperiest solid in commercial use — almost nothing sticks to PTFE, almost no chemicals attack it, and almost no temperature short of 260 °C bothers it. Non-stick cookware, plumber's tape, gasket sheets, lab beakers' inert linings. The one polymer that seems to be a special case in any trade-off chart you put it in. The cost is that it doesn't melt-process the way other thermoplastics do — most PTFE parts are sintered from compressed powder.

(–CF₂–CF₂–)ₙ, fully fluorinated semi-crystalline polymer. Tm 327 °C but doesn't form a flowable melt — sintered from compacted powder above ~370 °C. Density 2.20 g/cm³. Coefficient of friction against steel 0.04 (the lowest of any common engineering material). Service temperature -200 °C to +260 °C. Inert to all common acids, bases, and solvents short of molten alkali metals.

mechanical

  • tensile_strength_mpa25
  • yield_strength_mpa12
  • elongation_pct_at_break350
  • coefficient_of_friction_vs_steel0.04
  • density_kg_m32200
source: MakeItFrom; Chemours Teflon technical bulletin

thermal

  • melting_point_c327
  • service_max_c260
  • service_min_c-200
source: Chemours technical bulletin

Sustainability

  • embodied carbon kg co2e per kg9.0
  • sourceEditorial estimate from ICE / Granta CES EduPack class databases — industry mean, with cradle-to-gate boundary unless otherwise noted. Embodied carbon for any specific product depends on supplier mix, recycled content, and energy grid; verify against a primary source before using these numbers in a sustainability claim.
  • recyclabilitylow — hard to depolymerize; closed-loop reclaim of clean scrap exists at industrial scale
  • biodegradableFalse
  • certificationsFDA 21 CFR 177.1550 (food contact)
visual
characteristic chalk-white opacity, waxy gloss as machined
tactile
the slipperiest thing under the fingertip in most workshops; cool to the touch despite the warm-to-touch low conductivity, because it conducts heat away from the skin slowly

PBR starter values

finish · matte — open for table, JSON, host snippets, downloads

Principled BSDF defaults derived from the sphere matte finish. Reasonable seed for Blender, Substance, Keyshot, Rhino — tune per material. Or grab the whole library at once: ForMaterials library →

# finish:                   matte
albedo                      #f0f0ec
metallic                    0.00
roughness                   0.75
ior                         1.45
transmission                0.00
clearcoat                   0.00
sheen                       0.00
anisotropic                 0.00
copy as JSON 
{
  "albedo": "#f0f0ec",
  "metallic": 0.0,
  "roughness": 0.75,
  "ior": 1.45,
  "transmission": 0.0,
  "clearcoat": 0.0,
  "sheen": 0.0,
  "anisotropic": 0.0
}
Blender 4.x Python 
# Blender 4.x — Principled BSDF
# Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) · finish: matte
import bpy
mat = bpy.data.materials.new(name="mat_ptfe_teflon")
mat.use_nodes = True
bsdf = mat.node_tree.nodes["Principled BSDF"]
bsdf.inputs["Base Color"].default_value         = (0.8714, 0.8714, 0.8388, 1.0)
bsdf.inputs["Metallic"].default_value           = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Roughness"].default_value          = 0.750
bsdf.inputs["IOR"].default_value                = 1.450
bsdf.inputs["Transmission Weight"].default_value = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Coat Weight"].default_value        = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Sheen Weight"].default_value       = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Anisotropic"].default_value        = 0.000
KeyShot Python (lux) 
# KeyShot 11+ — lux Python API, Generic material
# Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) · finish: matte
# Run from Window → Scripting Console
import lux
mat = lux.createMaterial(name="mat_ptfe_teflon", materialType="Generic")
mat.setProperty("diffuse",      (240, 240, 236))   # 8-bit sRGB
mat.setProperty("metallic",     0.000)
mat.setProperty("roughness",    0.750)
mat.setProperty("indexOfRefraction", 1.450)
mat.setProperty("transparency", 0.000)
mat.setProperty("coatingWeight", 0.000)
Substance pbrMetalRough 
{
  "_format": "Substance Designer / Painter \u2014 pbrMetalRough constants",
  "_about": "Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) \u00b7 finish: matte",
  "baseColor": {
    "r": 0.8714,
    "g": 0.8714,
    "b": 0.8388
  },
  "metallic": 0.0,
  "roughness": 0.75,
  "ior": 1.45,
  "opacity": 1.0,
  "anisotropyLevel": 0.0,
  "_notes": "Channels listed are the standard Substance pbrMetalRough output. Drop into a Uniform Color node per channel, or as the constant input on a layered stack."
}
glTF 2.0 Metallic-Roughness 
{
  "asset": {
    "version": "2.0",
    "generator": "ForMatter"
  },
  "materials": [
    {
      "name": "mat_ptfe_teflon",
      "pbrMetallicRoughness": {
        "baseColorFactor": [
          0.8714,
          0.8714,
          0.8388,
          1.0
        ],
        "metallicFactor": 0.0,
        "roughnessFactor": 0.75
      },
      "extensions": {
        "KHR_materials_ior": {
          "ior": 1.45
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}
USD Preview Surface 
# USD Preview Surface — UsdShade.MaterialLook prim attributes
# Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) · finish: matte
def Material "mat_ptfe_teflon" {
    token outputs:surface.connect = </mat_ptfe_teflon/PreviewSurface.outputs:surface>

    def Shader "PreviewSurface" {
        uniform token info:id = "UsdPreviewSurface"
        color3f inputs:diffuseColor = (0.8714, 0.8714, 0.8388)
        float   inputs:metallic     = 0.000
        float   inputs:roughness    = 0.750
        float   inputs:ior          = 1.450
        float   inputs:opacity      = 1.000
        float   inputs:clearcoat    = 0.000
        token   outputs:surface
    }
}
↓ download glTF material
ProcessCNC Milling · Adhesive Bonding

Second life

repairabilityvery low — PTFE has near-zero surface energy and rejects every adhesive without etch-treatment; not weldable in field conditions.
recyclabilitylow — PTFE is fluoropolymer chemistry that contaminates other plastic recycling streams; specialty fluoropolymer recyclers exist.
disposal pathspecialty fluoropolymer recycler; landfill if specialty handling unavailable.
typical longevity50 years (typical)
failure modes
  • cold-flow / creep under sustained load (the canonical PTFE failure — "creep is forever")
  • thermal degradation above 260 °C releases toxic perfluoroisobutylene
  • wear at high-pressure contact

DuPont / Chemours Teflon technical literature; ASTM D4894 PTFE molding-and-extrusion standard.

Citations