PLA

PLA is the abbreviation of polylactic acid. This is a sustainable alternative to traditional plastics. PLA filament (printing material) is made from biodegradable, renewable raw materials. CIREX uses PLA, as this material is easy to use in 3D printing and that allows detailed objects to be printed.

Advantages

The main advantage of printing models from PLA is the speed and the relatively low cost. As the dimensional accuracy is lower and the surface roughness is higher than with 3D prototyping materials, these models are primarily suitable for casting parts for functional testing.

In addition, 3D printing with PLA also causes visible seams in the surface of the cast. However, these have no influence on the mechanical properties, which means that these prototypes can be used reliably to perform functional tests.

Read more about the technique that uses PLA here:

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Characteristic properties

  • High surface roughness
  • Low dimensional accuracy
  • PLA models can be printed in larger dimensions than wax or PMMA models
  • Production of PLA models is fast and relatively low-cost
  • Suitable for production of small and average numbers