I’ve been trying BL PLA Matte Black and I’m quite dissatisfied, compared to PLA Basic. The prints look great, the finish is smooth and silky-looking, but the layer bonding is very weak. I can break parts along layer lines just by pressing them between my fingers. With PLA Basic it takes considerable strength.
Is this a known limitation of PLA Matte? I didn’t think it would be this bad. I printed the same test parts in both and Matte feels much, much weaker than Basic. This should have been mentioned on the product page.
What settings can I tweak to improve layer bonding? I’ve been using the default Bambu Studio profiles for both materials and the default 0.4 mm nozzle, but I also have a 0.6 mm nozzle. Should I try with higher temperature, lower layer height, lower speed, larger nozzle, and/or larger extrusion width? Can anybody share a better preset for this material?
I have actually measured the layer adhesion of many types and brands of filament. Among those two matte PLAs, one from Bambu, one from Polymaker. Both have around 1/3 the layer adhesion of the regular PLAs that I have tested.
So it seems like matte PLA is much weaker than shiny. I think the same is true for PETG, but haven’t numbers.
I have decided to still use matte PLA for decorative objects because I really love the surface.
For all functional parts, I use mostly PETG and in some cases PC. I have a few fancier filaments like PETG-CF and PAHT-CF at home but didn’t need them yet.
One other reason to avoid PLA for functional parts is creeping under tension. PLA is very prone to change its shape if it is under constant tension. Think of springs being compressed, clips that hold something together. After a short time, the parts will get loose and not spring back to their original form.
That reminds me that I should update my post where I have published the results of my measurements.
Has anyone info about the different composition between regular PLA and matte PLA?
There should be a component or components added to change properties of the PLA from shiny to matte that affects the layer bonding.
I see. I still think Bambu Lab should make this information more prominent in the shop pages for matte filaments, considering they are likely to be bought by beginners like me who don’t know any better, until we try printing parts and they break in our hands. I’ll try to submit feedback.
That is also true. I did notice substantial creep in my PLA (non matte) test prints of functional parts. Is PETG (whether from BL or not) the filament with the best elasticity (less creep) that I can print on my A1? I don’t think I can print PC, right?
I’ve used PETG for spring type applications and they’ve held up really well.
Matte PLAs are objectively weaker than regular PLA, but I think your experience with it also depends on the application of the material. I use matte pla for functional parts all the time! If you’re trying to print stuff in vase mode, yeah, probably not gonna be the bell of the ball, but if you’re printing something chunky, it can work quite well.
Now you wanna talk about a weak and utterly useless filament, let’s talk SILK PLAs. Uggghghghghghghggh. They barely function as decorative.
Silk works just fine for most things in my experience. I printed an entire mandalorian armor set with helmet which I’ve worn a few times now for events, and a 2m long ‘beskar’ spear… no issues with strength under normal use. I’ve had way more issues with matte filaments.
I’ll print one up in matte and we’ll settle this on the battle field like real men.
On the card shuffler I have, there’s an issue where the crank arm breaks, and 9 out of 10 times it’s because they’ve printed it in silk. I’ve printed silk in a few other applications too where it just doesn’t hold up the way I’d like it. Granted, these are applications that could push even regular PLA, and would be more suitable for PETG.
