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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to prepare a new modified polybutylene terephalate (MPBT) for fused deposition modeling (FDM) to increase the variety of materials compatible with printing. And the printing materials can be used to print components with a complex structure and functional mechanical parts.Design/methodology/approach The MPBT, poly(butylene terephalate-co-isophthalate-co-sebacate) (PBTIS), was prepared for FDM by direct esterification and subsequent polycondensation using terephthalic acid (PTA), isophthalic acid (PIA), sebacic acid (SA) and 1,4-butanediol (BDO). The effects of the content of PIA (20-40 mol%) on the mechanical properties of PBTIS were investigated when the mole per cent of SA (αSA) is zero. The effects of αSA (0-7mol%) on the thermal, rheological and mechanical properties of PBTIS were investigated at nPTA/nPIA = 7/3. A desktop wire drawing and extruding machine was used to fabricate the filaments, whose printability and anisotropy were tested by three-dimensional (3D) printing experiments.Findings A candidate content of PIA introducing into PBT was obtained to be about 30 per cent, and the Izod notched impact strength of PBTIS increased with the increase of αSA. The results showed that the PBTIS (nPTA/nPIA = 7/3, αSA = 3-5mol%) is suitable for FDM.Originality/value New printing materials with good Izod notched impact strength were obtained by introducing PIA and SA (nPTA/nPIA = 7/3, αSA = 3-5 mol%) into PBT and their anisotropy are better than that of ABS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]