Taulman3D, known as a supplier of unique high-strength 3D printing materials, is not only dedicated to industrial 3D printing users, but is also extremely committed to the enormous world of hobbyists. In March they released Alloy 910 (at 8100 lb. tensile), which was quickly followed by Nylon 680, which is an FDA-grade material.
Why In-PLA? According to taulman3D, they will be offering consumers, industrial users, and hobbyists the following:
- New clarity with the 3D printing epoxy XTC-3D.
- More color choices as well as color matching due to the non-yellow, ‘color correct’ base resin. Follow-on colors are much more vibrant, and translucent colors are allowed along with transparent or semitransparent prints. Larger nozzles offer more transparent printing.
- Additional strength.
Taulman chose to release this as a PLA filament only as so many more 3D printing operators use that as their main material. PLA is attractive because it shrinks and warps very little during 3D printing, allowing for use on build platforms that aren’t heated. The benefits are numerous. Better bridging is allowed, reducing the amount of support required. Prototyping is more efficient, and 
“While the reduced shrinkage of PLA has been of interest to taulman3D for some time, it was important we bring additional new and innovative features to the 3D Printing community that went further than what is currently available from hundreds of material suppliers around the world,” said taulman3D founder Tom Martzall. “While the small shrinkage feature is a significant advantage of PLA, we wanted to bring PLA closer to the utility side of 3D Printing. With In-PLA, we have developed this additional strength and look forward to new uses and applications where a stronger PLA can fill a need.”
In-PLA will be supplied on a 1kg spool format, allowing ease for users transitioning from the PLA they are using over to In-PLA. With print temperature of 207°-212° C, all other settings are standard for PLA print speed and surfaces.
“As a material to be used by design houses for ‘Form/Fit,’ it was also important to bring a material that can more closely align with color and gloss expectations,” said Martzall. “The clarity of In-PLA needed to meet a transmission specification of 90% at 2mm when formed to an optical flat, or thick film ‘without a yellow tinge.’ This was a difficult specification to reach, but will allow follow-on colors or special orders to be more easily matched to standard industrial color swatches.”
Initial Release Colors include:
- Clear/Natural
- Opaque White
- Opaque Black
- Translucent Red
- Translucent Blue
- Translucent Green
Follow-on colors will be much more vibrant.
“The next major effort for us was to add an extrusion manufacturing line. A little known fact about taulman3D is that our materials are not extruded, but are ‘drawn’ in a manufacturing method where the material comes out of the main heaters larger in diameter, and then is drawn or ‘stretched’ under water to size specifications,” said Martzall. “This unique manufacturing method allows us additional control of the final taulman3D material features when 3D printed. However PLA is an extruded line and we have added the best extrusion equipment with all of the laser sensors needed to maintain a constant diameter and size.”
Specs are as follows:
- Ultimate Tensile Strength – 9.89 ksi ASTM D638
- Tensile Modulus – 521.6 ksi ASTM D638
- Tensile Strain at Break – 3.9% ASTM D638
- Gardner Impact Strength – 2.04 in-lb ASTM D5420
- Flexural Modulus – 285.99 ksi ASTM D790
In-PLA will be shipping worldwide. In-PLA is available in 1.75mm round and 2.85mm round.
Is this a filament you will be ordering soon? Discuss in the In-PLA 3D Printing Filament forum thread over at 3DPB.com.
[Credit: 3D Printed models were designed by Ben Malouf]