A polyamide is a polymer containing monomers of amides joined by peptide bonds. They can occur both naturally and artificially, examples being proteins, such as wool and silk, and can be made artificially through step-growth polymerization or solid-phase synthesis, examples being nylons, aramids, and sodium poly(aspartate). Polyamides are commonly used in textiles, automotives, carpet and sportswear due to their extreme durability and strength. — Wikipedia.
In our case the Aliphatic polyamides-family, hence the somewhat sloppy but memory friendly and enlightening than just Nylons.
Advantages of Nylon:
1. It is very cheap, at less than half the price of conventional filaments. This is because the plastic is readily available as weed wacker line.
2. It is readily available. Hardware stores everywhere sell weed trimmer line in many different sizes and colors. See below for a list of Internet sources.
3. Prints are flexible and wear resistant. Unlike ABS and PLA, Nylon is far less brittle, and therefore stronger. It also has self lubricating properties which are useful for printing gears etc.
Disadvantages of Nylon:
1. It is more stringy than ABS or PLA. Overfilling the part will make a gooey mess with strings everywhere.
2. It warps more than ABS or PLA. This is why printing on cardboard is necessary to prevent warping.
3. It requires more clean up due to having to print on cardboard.
4. You must dry Nylon before printing.