Technical Specifications
Typical Applications
- Functional parts in warm environments without sustained load
- Brackets and fixtures near heat sources
- Parts on sunlit windowsills or in vehicle interiors
- Impact-loaded functional and housing parts
- Robust prototypes that must tolerate more heat than standard PLA
Material Documents
Material Profile
HT-PLA Pro is Polymaker’s heat-stable PLA for functional parts that need to endure more in real-world use than standard PLA – without the processing effort of technical high-temperature filaments. It combines high shape stability in warm environments with markedly improved impact strength and layer adhesion.
Thermal Behavior: With and Without Annealing
The key distinction for heat-stable PLA is between shape stability with no load and heat deflection under load:
| Value | As printed | Annealed (100 °C / 30 min) |
|---|---|---|
| Vicat softening (ISO 306, no load) | 148.3 °C | 150.5 °C |
| HDT/A – 0.45 MPa (ISO 75) | 56.3 °C | 107.6 °C |
| HDT/B – 1.8 MPa (ISO 75) | 53.8 °C | 68.6 °C |
With no load, HT-PLA Pro holds its shape straight off the build plate up to nearly 150 °C. If the part must stay warm under mechanical load, annealing is required – 30 minutes at 100 °C raises HDT/A from ~56 to ~108 °C. Annealing can cause slight warping; where dimensional accuracy is critical we agree on the approach per project.
Mechanical Values (printed, per datasheet)
| Property | X-Y | Z |
|---|---|---|
| Tensile strength (ISO 527) | 37.6 ± 1.1 MPa | 26.8 ± 1.2 MPa |
| Tensile modulus (ISO 527) | 2.27 GPa | 1.85 GPa |
| Flexural strength (ISO 178) | 60.1 ± 2.1 MPa | 37.1 ± 1.5 MPa |
| Elongation at break | 13 ± 3 % | 2.6 ± 0.7 % |
| Notched Charpy (ISO 179) | 10.1 ± 1.3 kJ/m² | – |
Compared with regular HT-PLA, the manufacturer reports around 2× higher impact strength and ~30 % higher Z-axis layer adhesion (26.8 vs. 20.8 MPa) – parts split less often along layer lines.
Processing
HT-PLA Pro prints with ordinary PLA parameters: nozzle 210–230 °C, bed 25–65 °C, active part cooling, no enclosure, and speeds up to 300 mm/s. It slots into existing production workflows without modifications. The remaining material data (density 1.24 g/cm³, glass transition ~59 °C) matches a typical PLA profile.
Where It Fits
HT-PLA Pro bridges the gap between economical PLA and technical polymers: when a part will not see ABS/PA temperatures but must stay shape-stable on a windowsill, in a car, or near a heat source, it is an easy-to-produce choice. For sustained UV/outdoor use, ASA remains the better option; for high heat resistance under continuous load we turn to fiber-reinforced high-performance materials.