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Natureworks 3D850

Matthew Fiedler

June 27, 2016 16:18

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The technical datasheet for the pellets can be found here: http://www.natureworksllc.com/~/media/Technical_Resources/Technical_Data_Sheets/TechnicalDataSheet_3D850_Monofilament_pdf.pdf?la=en 

I suspect that most if not all the temp resistant PLA uses the 3D850 as its base. There is very little information out there for recommended heat treat methods.

Here are a couple pictures from a recent experiment I did with Natureworks PLA 3D850 that claims increased crystallization with heat treat. I used a wall oven to heat treat the parts at 200F but please note that I did not verify with a second thermometer.

Picture: 2016-06-20 16.41.53
The three parts on the left are not heat treated and the three on the right are heat treated at 200F for 15 minutes. I placed the parts into a cold oven and let the oven heat to temp and maintained temp for 15 minutes then removed the parts to air cool. The color change and warping happened while the parts were in the oven not after they were removed.

The top two parts were made with one perimeter (0.48mm width). The center two are two perimeters and the bottom two have three perimeters. Interestingly enough the part with two perimeters warped the least. I also heat treated a couple objects with more structural integrity and found little to no warping (small 5" Moai statue and the re3D logo placard).

I think the next steps are to control the rate of heating to see if the amount of warping can be reduced. Would love to hear other's experience with heat treating the PLA 3D850. 

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5 comments

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  Shawn Fitzpatrick June 27, 2016 18:46

  The spec sheet for both Natureworks 3D850 and 3D-Fuel's APLA both state a Heat Deflection/Distortion Temperature of 144ºC, but the write-up by 3D-Fuel page makes it clearer that this is for Annealed APLA.
  
  The 3D-Fuel video showing the difference between Standard PLA, Un-Annealed APLA, ABS, and Annealed APLA indicates that in this test Standard PLA started to deflect at the 1:00 mark, while Un-Annealed APLA started to deflect at 1:37. ABS started to deflect very slightly around that point but really didn't start to move until the 5:00 mark. Annealed APLA had still not started to deflect at the 14:43 mark when the video ends.

  We can thus deduce that while the Heat Deflection Temperature for Un-Annealed APLA is higher than that of Un-Annealed standard PLA, it is substantially below that of ABS, perhaps near 65ºC.
  
  While I can't currently offer an explanation as to why your 3 perimeter print warped more than your 2 perimeter one, it is logical that an unannealed APLA object exposed to 200ºF (93ºC) would warp during the annealing process if it was unsupported.
  
  It would be interesting to find a way of supporting the sides during annealing, say by putting the boxes over top of a piece of aluminum that was sized to slip inside of the boxes and then placing them upside down so that the sides were hanging rather than standing in the oven during the annealing process.
  
  Alternately, perhaps even casting a silicone mold would suffice... or supporting them in a powder, as an example our machinists used to anneal steel in lime powder and then allowing the part to slowly cool.

  Then, once the parts had been annealed, conduct your original test on them to see how they react. My expectation is that they would stand up substantially better.

  Edited by Shawn Fitzpatrick June 27, 2016 18:49
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  Shawn Fitzpatrick June 27, 2016 18:52

  I wonder if filling the boxes with triangular infill wouldn't be enough to prevent them from warping during annealing - much like we would expect to do with the cold end of our extruders.

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  Shawn Fitzpatrick June 27, 2016 19:11

  An article discusses the crystallization that occurs during the annealing process at length and how this increases the Heat Distortion Temperature of PLA:
  
  http://www.4spepro.org/view.php?article=005392-2014-03-28

  PDF version of the same article:

  http://www.4spepro.org/pdf/005392/005392.pdf

  It is interesting that the above article seems to be discussing regular PLA. It would be interesting to do a side by side test of regular PLA to APLA with both cured at 176ºF (80ºC) for 30 minutes.

  These pages specifically mention the need to support your print during annealing:

  https://www.proto-pasta.com/pages/high-temp-pla#HTanneal

  https://www.proto-pasta.com/products/high-temp-pla-v2-0

  OO - Carbon Fiber High Temp PLA :)
  https://www.proto-pasta.com/collections/retail/products/high-temp-carbon-fiber-pla-composite?variant=12470439620

  Edited by Shawn Fitzpatrick June 27, 2016 19:22
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  Matthew Fiedler June 27, 2016 19:20

  I also heat treated the standard Moai and vase test prints. The vase is a single walled print and heat treating caused it to become shorter and fatter. The Moai was printed with 15% infill and did not undergo any noticeable warping with heat treat.

   

   

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  Shawn Fitzpatrick July 11, 2016 17:58

  I was able to confirm today in a phone conversation with Matthew Stegall at 3domfuel.com that their APLA is Natureworks 3D850. He said that they are the R&D arm for Natureworks.

  He didn't have an exact spec but agreed that the non-annealed Heat Distortion Temperature for their APLA is in the 65ºC range.

  It sounds like they have quite a number of neat new products coming down the pipe...