Volcano PLA | FormFutura

Volcano PLA is an industrial-grade PLA filament designed for professional applications that require high printing speeds and improved heat resistance and mechanical properties similar to ABS. It offers the same mechanical and thermal properties as most ABS filaments after annealing, but with the added benefits of biodegradability and ease of printing associated with PLA.

Volcano PLA has a high heat resistance of 95° C or higher after annealing, less than 0.3% shrinkage after annealing (about 8 times less shrinkage than competitor materials), excellent dimensional accuracy before and after annealing, and is engineered for high printing speeds of more than 120 mm/s. It is also highly crystalline immediately after extrusion, resulting in increased stiffness and temperature resistance, and has superb mechanical properties comparable to ABS. In addition, Volcano PLA has excellent interlayer adhesion and a matte surface finish.

Annealing Volcano PLA

Annealing is a secondary process in which a plastic part is heated up to half of the melt temperature for a moderate period of time before letting the plastic part cool back down to room temperature. When the plastic part is reheated (annealed) like this, the material relaxes and internal stresses and/or strains are relieved resulting in improved dimensional stability, reduction/removal of dimensional distortion and defects, and improved physical and thermal properties of the printed (and annealed) plastic object.

Step 1

Preheat a convection oven at 110° C (half the melting temperature of Volcano PLA). It is highly recommended to use a thermometer to calibrate the exact temperature of your convection oven.

Preheating the oven to 110° C is extremely important as your Volcano PLA printed object will then crystalize in such a rapid timeframe that there is almost no time for the material to shrink. This results in a negligible shrinkage percentage of < 0.3% and by that Volcano PLA is unsurpassed when it comes to reduction of shrinkage after annealing.

Step 2

When the oven is preheated to a stable temperature of 110° C then quickly put your Volcano PLA printed object in the oven. Make sure to do this as quick as possible in order to keep the loss of heat reduced to a minimum. Don’t remove any supports (if used) from the printed object when putting it in the oven.

It is recommended to place the Volcano PLA printed object on a flat aluminium sheet/foil or similar flat metal object to obtain a stable/equal heat transmission.

Small objects – 20 minutes timer

For small objects with thin walls and medium infill annealing will take ± 20 minutes

Large objects – 60 minutes timer

For large objects with thick walls and medium/high infill annealing take ± 60 minutes

Step 3

When the object is annealed taking above mentioned duration into account then switch off the oven and let it cool down to room temperature. Do not remove the object before the oven has completely cooled down to room temperature!

Step 4

When the oven is cooled down completely you remove the object from the oven and remove any support material (if used). Your Volcano PLA printed object is now annealed and has all thermal and mechanical properties as displayed in the Technical Data Sheet (TDS).