How to Test the Silk PLA

How to Test the Silk PLA
By Eryone QC,Andy Wen

The inspiration of silk PLA comes from a textile in daily life, silk. Silk is a kind of glossy, colorful, smooth and delicate textile, while the silk PLA has the same texture with the real silk.

The realistic silk texture and glossy surface effect that weaken the laminated striation.

Silk Fabrics 

Silk PLA

The silk PLA has two series: Ultra silk PLA and standard PLA. Both of them are developed base on the standard PLA, added with TPU raw material. The physical property of silk PLA decides the performances of silk PLA prints, including toughness, shrink rate, water absorbency, printing temperature and so on.

The parameters in the above table are measured by professional testing instruments.

Diameter and Tolerance

Diameter and tolerance are the very basic parameters that we must know before our test.

And high precision of filament can make a constant diameter and make filament hardly get clogged. After testing via a micrometer, we know the diameter of silk filament is 1.75mm with a tolerance ±0.03.

From the testing data in the table, there are 12 test points for filaments in each color. There is a 30cm distance between the two test points. As is the micrometer shown, the 12 date indicate that the filaments have reached the high precision 1.75±0.03mm. So silk PLA filament meets the standards of the diameter.

Temperature Property

As we know, PLA filament is user-friendly for our beginners because it’s easy to use.

Silk PLA filament, as it’s developed based on standard PLA material, also can be very  user-friendly. To get a wonderful print, we must make sure that we know the printing temperature well. The printing temperature directly influences the constant diameter and the liquidity of the output filament. Let’s have a look at the printing effects at certain temperature points within 190-220℃.

Test Object	Silk PLA	Time	2020
Test Method	Printed objects produced at different temperature points.
Color	196℃	205℃	220℃
Ultra Silk Bronze
Ultra Silk Copper
Standard Silk Copper
Ultra Silk Black

Under three temperature points 196℃, 205℃ and 220℃, we test the printing effect and that effect is very pleasant. When we set reasonable slice parameters, the prints have smooth surface, fine fluidity, no clogging but have much string. Therefore, when the temperature ranges 190-220℃, the silk PLA filament can reach a high-quality printing effect.

Matching Rate of Speed and Temperature

The matching rate of speed and temperature is also an factor that affects the printing effect. Also, it reflects how customers get familiar with the slicing of this matte filament.

We choose 3 temperature points to test. At a certain temperature, we set different printing speed as the print gets higher. In this way, we can find the optimal match of temperature and speed.

The table above shows the optimum matching rate of speed and temperature on mainstream printers. We can refer to the table above to slice. For Silk PLA, the speed should be lower. In this way, the prints will have smoother surface but less string.

The Adhesivity of the Heated Bed

The Silk PLA is similar to other PLA filaments in that they have lower temperature requirements for heated beds. The following are the temperature requirements for common heated beds.

We can know from the table that silk PLA has a high compatibility with the mainstream heated bed.

Compatibility of 3D Printers

Without a printer, the filament can not produce a print. The compatibility of the printer should also be taken into concern.

From the above test process, Silk PLA filament applies to most FDM printers in the market. When you use different printers, the slicing parameters should be different. The retracting length set for Bowden and direct drive printers should be different. That will be given in the product specification and you can refer it.

Retracting and String

Generally speaking, proper retracting value can decrease retracting. After a few times of testing, we get the following data. As depicted in the picture below, the proper retracting value decreases string rate. The prints shown in the picture are printed by Ender3 according these parameters: printing temperature 205℃, retracting length 4mm, retracting speed 70mm/s. 

After comprehensive testing of the above projects, we give you reference of parameters—Bowden extruder printer: printing temperature 200-220℃, retracting length 4-6mm, retracting speed 60-70mm/s; direct-drive extruder printer: printing temperature 200-220℃, retracting speed 1-2 mm, retracting speed 35-40mm/s.

In conclusion, we find that silk PLA (represented by ultra silk copper, ultra silk black, ultra silk copper and silk copper) has a realistic silk texture, high glossiness but no laminated striation.

In terms of printing habits and usage, the silk PLA has no different from the standard PLA and it also can be user-friendly.

Comparison between Ultra Silk PLA and Silk PLA

Silk Copper       Ultra Silk Copper

Similarities: Realistic silk texture & color, easy to print, good surface effect, no laminated striation.

Differences: Ultra silk has higher gloss and stronger silk texture.

Note:

The castle is printed with ultra silk gold PLA. It has realistic silk texture and glossy surface effect that weaken the laminated striation. But if we take a closer look, we may find there is still some part with bad effect. Is that the result of uneven melted filament? No. The main ingredient of silk PLA doesn’t only include PLA. The imperfect effect demonstrates that the ultra silk doesn’t fit to print the objects with too high resolution ratio. On the whole, the printing effect of silk PLA is pretty good.

Ultra Silk Copper                        Silk Copper               Standard PLA Red