PLA
Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the most widely printed materials in consumer grade 3D printers due to its ease of printability and low cost. It is a bioplastic and thermoplastic made from renewable natural resources such as corn startch. PLA is embraced due to this eco-friendliness and biodegradability.
PLA is manufactured in almost every color avalible with specialty blends creating marbling effects using fragments of a higher temperature thermoplastic. At Terrapin Works we offer PLA in the following colors:
- Green
- Red
- Blue
- Purple
- Yellow
- Orange
- Brown
- Black
- White
- Warm Grey
- Cool Grey
- Neon Green
- Neon Orange
- Neon Pink
- Translucent Blue
- Translucent Green
- Translucent Orange
- Translucent Purple
- Translucent Yellow
- Army Green
- Ocean Blue
- Khaki
- Natural
- Glow-in-the-dark
- Marble
- Bronze
While PLA is a good general-purpose material, it is brittle and has a low heat resistance. The heat deflection temperature of PLA is 56° C (132.8° F) which can be reached on the dashboard of a car sitting in the summer sun. The flexural modulus is 3600 MPa (522 ksi) and the flexural strength is 97 MPa (14 ksi).