Wood Pellets

PLA wood pellets are small cylinders composed of PLA and wood fibres. PLA (polylactic acid) is a biodegradable plastic obtained from natural resources such as starch extracted from corn, beet and wheat.

PLA is one of the most widely used materials in 3D printing today because it does not give off harmful gases and is easy to print.

Wood is composed of cellulose fibres bound with lignin. Wood is a very useful and versatile material, thanks to properties such as its strength, flexibility, hardness (which depends on the type of wood) and its good thermal and acoustic insulation capacity, thanks to the micro-bubbles of air that its structure contains when it is dry.

Wood is also an ecological material that comes from nature, which means that it is integrated into the environment with a much lower impact than other materials.

Wood has a great aesthetic value due to its colour and texture, which depend on the type of tree it comes from. This material can be manipulated and modified with techniques such as carving, and is widely used for artistic applications such as sculpture or polychromy.

For all these reasons, PLA wood pellets are a very useful material for the manufacture of aesthetic or decorative pieces, as well as for the creation of non-functional prototypes.

PLA wood pellets are of the highest quality and do not incorporate recycled or recovered material. Thanks to these qualities, PLA wood pellets are perfect for 3D printing, achieving high print quality. There are several methods for using pellets in 3D printing:

• Wood PLA pellets can be used in the manufacture of filament for FDM 3D printers using Filastruder or any other filament extruder.
• It is possible to use a pellet extruder to 3D print directly.

Image 1: Colours available in PLA wood pellets. Source: Smart materials.

With the combination of PLA Pellets and a good filament extruder such as Filastruder, it is possible to obtain 3D printing filament with qualities similar to those of a commercial wood PLA filament.

When using PLA Wood Pellets to make filament with a filament extruder such as Filastruder or using a pellet extruder for direct 3D printing, it should be noted that the extrusion temperature must be regulated in relation to the extrusion speed used. For optimal results, it is recommended to read the product's usage tips.