PLA
Introduction
PLA (here) stands for Polylactic acid or polylactide. It is a kind of plastic.
See also:
- ABS The other popular polymer for 3D printing
- 3D printing and other articles in the 3D printing category
PLA in 3D printing
“PLA is a biodegradable, thermoplastic, aliphatic polyester derived from renewable resources, such as corn starch (in the U.S.) or sugarcanes (rest of world). Although PLA has been known for more than a century, it has only been of commercial interest in recent years, in light of its biodegradability. [...] PLA is slightly more brittle than ABS once it's extruded, but that is more than made up for by it's almost complete lack of warping, the ease of part removal, and the lack of any bad smells. It gives off a faint odor of Candyfloss (cotton candy) when it's printing.
Due to PLA's relatively low glass transition temperature, manufatured parts can not be used in situations where temperatures are higher than about 70-80 degrees C... PLA cups cannot hold hot liquids” (BFB Wiki, retrieved June 2012)
PLA comes in variants.
Proportions + color pigments added will modify melting temperature and other behavior !
This implies that recommendations for your 3D printer only apply to the kind of PLA that was sold by the company (official recommendations) or that was bought by users (blogs, forums, wikis).
Links
- Introductions
- PLA (RepRap Wiki)
- Discussions
- List of suppliers
- Printing Material Suppliers (RepRap Wiki)
- Filament supplier reviews
- "Local" Suppliers (there are many more, see above !)
- fabberworld (Switzerland)
- German RepRap foundation
- RepRapSource (Germany)
- Fabber Parts (Germany)
- PaoParts (France)