PLA Flax pellets

Nanovia is a French company with extensive experience in the development and production of intelligent chemical products for advanced materials, including pellets for FDM 3D printing. The French manufacturer guarantees a rigorous control of the formulation of the raw material, which ensures the best mechanical and geometric properties of each material. The PLA Flax pellets (also available in filament format) from the Nanovia pellet catalog are made from a PLA base additivized with flax fibers for better mechanical properties and easier printing. The flax fibers are 100% bio-sourced from Upper Normandy and Hauts de France. The PLA Flax pellets are fully biodegradable and compostable in industrial conditions (ISO EN 13432), as well as ROHS certified and free of estrogenic endocrine disruptors.

Image 1: Objects 3D printed with the PLA Flax pellets. Source: Nanovia.

The flax fibres increase the rigidity of the material and increase its tensile modulus by 60% compared to standard PLA. A very interesting feature of the PLA Flax pellets is that the colour of the part can be modified from lighter to darker by varying the processing temperatures from 200 to 260°C. The lower the extrusion temperature, the lighter the part will be. This feature makes the PLA Flax pellets a very useful material in the production of toys or decorative objects, giving them a customizable rustic appearance.

Image 2: Varying the extrusion temperature modifies the color of the PLA Flax pellets. Source: Nanovia.

Thanks to their great mechanical properties and increased rigidity, the PLA Flax pellets can be used for functional applications, both indoors and outdoors. Nevertheless, if the parts are to be used outdoors, it is recommended to cover them with a layer of Nanovia's smoothing coating to increase the UV resistance.

The benefits offered by Fused Granulate Fabrication are many. Pellet manufacturing tends to be more affordable than filament manufacturing on a large scale. The PLA Flax pellets can be used in many ways either to make filament with the help of a compact filament extruder, or to extrude directly onto a printing surface with a desktop pellet extruder (mountable on any open architecture FDM 3D printer) or on a larger scale with a high speed pellet extruder.