ART
BEAUTY & WELLNESS
CRAFT
CULTURE & HISTORY
ENTERTAINMENT
ENVIRONMENT
FOOD & DRINKS
REVERSE ENGINEERING
SCIENCES
SPORTS
TECHNOLOGY
WEARABLES
PLA Pellets: Purified Lactide Polymerised with a Trace of Litharge
PLA (polylactide) is the polymer of lactic acid, the stock for PLA filament. Schneider's du Pont patent (US 2,703,316, 1955) made a tough, clear polymer by heating very pure lactide with a trace of litharge in a closed, evacuated vessel: at 180 °C it was done in 6½ hours. Above 200 °C the polymer falls back to lactide. Extruding it and cutting the strand into pellets is our step.
The picture: our diagram.
Advanced
About 8 hours
Instructions
1
1
Charge lactide and litharge
Charge lactide and litharge
Weigh 10 parts of purified lactide (melting at 125 °C in the patent's example; it must melt at 120 °C or above) and 0.004 part litharge into the reaction vessel.
Materials for this step:
Lactide10 partsTools needed:
Lead Oxide (Litharge)
Balance Scale
Pressure Reactor
P100 Respirator2
2
Evacuate and close
Evacuate and close
Pump the air out of the vessel and close it.
Tools needed:
Vacuum Pump
Vacuum GaugePressure Reactor3
3
Heat 6½ hours at 180 °C
Heat 6½ hours at 180 °C
Heat at 180 °C for 6½ hours. Do not go above 200 °C, where the polymer turns back to lactide. The product is a clear, colourless polymer (the example's softened at about 82 °C).
Tools needed:
Drying Oven
Thermometer - LabPressure Reactor4
4
Extrude and pelletise
Extrude and pelletise
Ours: take the polymer out, melt it through an extruder and cut the cooled strand into pellets.
Tools needed:
Plastic Extruder
Pelletizer
Heat-Resistant GlovesTools Required
11- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- 1 vendor sell this, none ship to you yetPlaceholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
This blueprint makes
Related Blueprints
These blueprints share knowledge with this one — techniques, materials, or principles that connect them in the learning graph.
CC0 Public Domain
This blueprint is released under CC0. You are free to copy, modify, distribute, and use this work for any purpose, without asking permission.
Support the Maker by purchasing products through their Blueprint where they earn a Maker Commission set by Vendors, or create a new iteration of this Blueprint and include it as a connection in your own Blueprint to share revenue.