PLA

PLA is a great material with awesome printability, it is great for novice printers and perfectly works with any printer. Depending on the brand and the type, it mostly differs in mechanical and thermal resistance, and as you may think color. 3D PLA filaments are the most widely printed because of their ease to use and so the producer did want to catch a market share by offering colors beyond the rainbow's colors. PLA was until recently a weak filament with only 50°C heat resistance and very poor mechanical properties. The demand for PLA made producers overengineer the material and some firms managed to put seriously increase this once hobby-only material.

Differences in PLA price usually mean better color consistency, lower in-filament humidity rate, better diameter tolerance, higher thermal resistance (see Volcano PLA from FormFutura), and better stiffness (up to 9x like PolyMax from PolyMaker).

Printability of PLA filament

PLA is the easiest to print material. It is very forgiving and usually, most slicer predefined settings will work well. PLA doesn't warp, has great overhang capabilities, and has a great interlayer adhesion. Most of the time, PLA doesn't even require an adhesive to stick to the hotbed.

PLA mechanical and thermal properties

Regular basic PLA is stiff and not very tough meaning that it can break easily. Its main disadvantage is that it starts softening at 50°C. It is mostly suited for visual prototypes and non-functional models. Because of its ease of print, most brands have modified and pushed the PLA boundaries further making some PLAs suitable for functional prototypes.

Tips and other notable benefits

PLA is so-called "eco-friendly" and is widely used for compostable cutlery. "So-called" because its compatibility is not what you would expect from this word.

Browse all PLA filaments in stock in our warehouse in Senec, Slovakia. For comparison, see also PETG and ECO.