www.3ders.org

Mar 15, 2017 | By Julia

3D printing filament maker 3D-Fuel has teamed up with NatureWorks LLC in the launch of its newest filament: Advanced PLA+ (or APLA+). A new and improved version of 3D-Fuel’s original APLA filament, APLA+ is an advanced Ingeo PLA formulation that offers high heat and impact resistance.

For those new to 3D-Fuel, in the spring of last year we reported a large merger between filament producing companies 3Dom USA, 3Dom Europe, and 3D-Fuel. The resulting umbrella company was aptly labelled 3DomFuel, which continued to produce the 3D-Fuel brand following the unification. At the time, the recently merged 3DomFuel touted an increase in production and R&D capabilities, as well as a renewed focus on materials development. Now, the fruits of that labour have finally hit the 3D printing filament market with the release of APLA+.

“APLA+ was designed with the high impact strength needed in industrial applications to meet the growing demand by companies for a material with the properties of ABS, but the printability of PLA,” said 3D-Fuel representatives in an official press release.

The difference should be immediately noticeable to users. Whereas annealed APLA filament displays impact strength levels that almost double those of standard PLA filaments, the new APLA+ weighs in at a whopping 4.3 times stronger than that of PLA, according to company reps.

Both APLA+ and its predecessor APLA are annealing PLAs that exhibit high heat resistance.

Even before post-processing, APLA+ exhibits much higher impact strength than ABS, but following a post-print annealing process, the filaments are crystallized, providing additional heat and impact properties.

3D-Fuel also scores bragging rights that stretch back to the filaments’ original development concepts. That’s because APLA+ was created specifically for 3D printing, whereas many filament materials are formulated first for other industries then adapted for FDM filaments. The new filament’s predecessor, APLA, was the first ever material formulated specifically for 3D printers.

Additionally, all of 3D-Fuel’s PLA materials (ranging from Ingeo PLA, to the aforementioned APLA and APLA+) are NatureWorks’ Ingeo certified. This special certification means all 3D-Fuel filaments have passed a defined set of tests to assure top product quality.

APLA+ is now available for purchase at 3DFuel.com. While the filament is currently only available in “Natural,” other colours are expected to be released soon. The filament is manufactured at 3D-Fuel’s own production facilities in either Fargo, North Dakota or Moville, Ireland, depending on customer location. Pricing is currently set at $49.99 per spool.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Materials

 

 

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