Small-UAS propellers are molded in two families of plastic, and the choice follows the job, not the size. Material follows application, not size: glass-fiber-reinforced PA66 where a platform needs stiffness under load, polycarbonate where it needs impact survival and low rotational mass. Several sizes are offered in both.
Polycarbonate
Polycarbonate is the FPV material. It is tough and flexes on impact rather than cracking, which is why a 5-inch freestyle prop can hit a branch and keep flying, and it molds thin and light, which keeps rotational mass low and throttle response quick. Its limit is stiffness: under heavy load a polycarbonate blade flexes, and a flexing blade changes its effective pitch. On a racing or freestyle platform that is a fair trade; on a heavy-lift platform it is not.
Glass-fiber-reinforced nylon
Reinforcing nylon with short glass fibres — the line's glass-fiber material is a 33 % glass-reinforced PA66 — makes a blade markedly stiffer. It holds its pitch under load, which is what a lift, cinelifter or Group 2 platform needs from a 10-inch or 12-inch propeller carrying payload, and it is the material of choice for folding blades, which are individually molded and weight-matched. The trade is impact behaviour: a stiff glass-filled blade is more likely to break than to bend, and it transmits more vibration into the frame.
Which is which in the line
- Polycarbonate: the 3-inch, 3.5-inch ducted, 5-inch and most 6-inch and 7-inch sizes — the FPV, racing, training and attritable platforms. Browse the 5-inch and 7-inch pages.
- Glass-fiber nylon: the 10-inch and 12-inch sizes, the 6×4×3 lift prop, and every folding SKU. Browse the 10-inch and folding pages.
- Both: the 8×4×3 (ANV-P8040) is offered in polycarbonate and glass-fiber nylon, because 8-inch straddles tactical quads and mid-size lift.
Folding blades are a special case
Folding propellers are multi-part assemblies — individually molded blades on a hub with pivot hardware — so blades are the replaceable consumable, and blade sets are weight-matched.
Choosing
If the platform was designed around a specific foreign part, match that part's material — the referenced Gemfan and HQProp listings state it, and the replacement guides carry it. If you are specifying from scratch: polycarbonate where the propeller is a consumable that will hit things, glass-fiber nylon where it carries payload or folds. Material is one of the fields the custom-programs intake asks for, and "open" is an acceptable answer.