ForMatter/Materials/polymer/PLA (Polylactic Acid)
mat_pla

PLA (Polylactic Acid)

thermoplastic, semicrystalline biopolymer · polylactide, polylactic acid, PLA filament
highlast updated 2026-04-26

The desktop-3D-printer plastic. Made from corn or sugarcane, biodegradable in industrial composting, brittle in sunlight. The default for first prints, casual prototypes, and anything that doesn't need to stay strong outdoors. Smells faintly sweet when extruded.

Bio-derived polyester from fermented plant starches. Semicrystalline in slow-cooled state, amorphous in fast-cooled (printed) state. Tg ~60 °C — softens in a hot car. Compostable under industrial conditions (60 °C + microbial inoculum); persists for years in ambient soil.

Mechanical

  • tensile strength · MPa50
  • yield strength · MPa48
  • elastic modulus · GPa3.5
  • elongation · %6
source: MakeItFrom

Thermal

  • glass transition · °C60
  • melting point · °C160
  • thermal conductivity · W/m·K0.13
source: MakeItFrom

Sustainability

  • embodied carbon · kg CO₂e/kg2.1
  • recyclabilitylow practical recyclability — chemically unique among common plastics, contaminates PET streams; industrial composting rare in most municipalities
  • biodegradableTrue
  • certificationsBPI (industrial compostable), EN 13432
source: Editorial estimate from ICE / Granta CES EduPack class databases — industry mean, with cradle-to-gate boundary unless otherwise noted. Embodied carbon for any specific product depends on supplier mix, recycled content, and energy grid; verify against a primary source before using these numbers in a sustainability claim.
visual
glossy in printed form, accepts vibrant pigments, slightly translucent in natural color
tactile
smooth, lightly waxy, warmer than PETG
weight perception
light
acoustic
very dull tap — the lowest-pitched of common print materials
Chris Lefteri (living — quote)

Suppliers have gradually acknowledged the urgent need to look at alternative, rapidly renewable resources. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the plastics industry, which is looking for alternatives to petroleum-based polymers.

Chris Lefteri, Ingredients magazine No. 2 (September 2007), p. 5, 'Materials: the big attraction and why material innovation is important.'

PBR starter values

finish · glossy — open for table, JSON, host snippets, downloads

Principled BSDF defaults derived from the sphere glossy finish. Reasonable seed for Blender, Substance, Keyshot, Rhino — tune per material. Or grab the whole library at once: ForMaterials library →

# finish:                   glossy
albedo                      #d8d8b8
metallic                    0.00
roughness                   0.25
ior                         1.45
transmission                0.00
clearcoat                   0.40
sheen                       0.00
anisotropic                 0.00
copy as JSON 
{
  "albedo": "#d8d8b8",
  "metallic": 0.0,
  "roughness": 0.25,
  "ior": 1.45,
  "transmission": 0.0,
  "clearcoat": 0.4,
  "sheen": 0.0,
  "anisotropic": 0.0
}
Blender 4.x Python 
# Blender 4.x — Principled BSDF
# PLA (Polylactic Acid) · finish: glossy
import bpy
mat = bpy.data.materials.new(name="mat_pla")
mat.use_nodes = True
bsdf = mat.node_tree.nodes["Principled BSDF"]
bsdf.inputs["Base Color"].default_value         = (0.6867, 0.6867, 0.4793, 1.0)
bsdf.inputs["Metallic"].default_value           = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Roughness"].default_value          = 0.250
bsdf.inputs["IOR"].default_value                = 1.450
bsdf.inputs["Transmission Weight"].default_value = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Coat Weight"].default_value        = 0.400
bsdf.inputs["Sheen Weight"].default_value       = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Anisotropic"].default_value        = 0.000
KeyShot Python (lux) 
# KeyShot 11+ — lux Python API, Generic material
# PLA (Polylactic Acid) · finish: glossy
# Run from Window → Scripting Console
import lux
mat = lux.createMaterial(name="mat_pla", materialType="Generic")
mat.setProperty("diffuse",      (216, 216, 184))   # 8-bit sRGB
mat.setProperty("metallic",     0.000)
mat.setProperty("roughness",    0.250)
mat.setProperty("indexOfRefraction", 1.450)
mat.setProperty("transparency", 0.000)
mat.setProperty("coatingWeight", 0.400)
Substance pbrMetalRough 
{
  "_format": "Substance Designer / Painter \u2014 pbrMetalRough constants",
  "_about": "PLA (Polylactic Acid) \u00b7 finish: glossy",
  "baseColor": {
    "r": 0.6867,
    "g": 0.6867,
    "b": 0.4793
  },
  "metallic": 0.0,
  "roughness": 0.25,
  "ior": 1.45,
  "opacity": 1.0,
  "anisotropyLevel": 0.0,
  "_notes": "Channels listed are the standard Substance pbrMetalRough output. Drop into a Uniform Color node per channel, or as the constant input on a layered stack."
}
glTF 2.0 Metallic-Roughness 
{
  "asset": {
    "version": "2.0",
    "generator": "ForMatter"
  },
  "materials": [
    {
      "name": "mat_pla",
      "pbrMetallicRoughness": {
        "baseColorFactor": [
          0.6867,
          0.6867,
          0.4793,
          1.0
        ],
        "metallicFactor": 0.0,
        "roughnessFactor": 0.25
      },
      "extensions": {
        "KHR_materials_ior": {
          "ior": 1.45
        },
        "KHR_materials_clearcoat": {
          "clearcoatFactor": 0.4
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}
USD Preview Surface 
# USD Preview Surface — UsdShade.MaterialLook prim attributes
# PLA (Polylactic Acid) · finish: glossy
def Material "mat_pla" {
    token outputs:surface.connect = </mat_pla/PreviewSurface.outputs:surface>

    def Shader "PreviewSurface" {
        uniform token info:id = "UsdPreviewSurface"
        color3f inputs:diffuseColor = (0.6867, 0.6867, 0.4793)
        float   inputs:metallic     = 0.000
        float   inputs:roughness    = 0.250
        float   inputs:ior          = 1.450
        float   inputs:opacity      = 1.000
        float   inputs:clearcoat    = 0.400
        token   outputs:surface
    }
}
↓ download glTF material
ProcessFDM 3D Printing (Fused Deposition Modeling) · Injection Molding · CNC Milling
Used inPrototype / Concept Model · Food Packaging
Substitutes
PETG (Glycol-Modified PET)
PHA (Polyhydroxyalkanoate)
Finishes that suit this material
Mold texture — pebble grain · textured
SPI A2 (high mirror polish, #3 diamond) · mirror
SPI B1 (fine paper polish, 600-grit) · polished
SPI B2 (medium paper polish, 400-grit) · polished
SPI C1 (stone finish, 600-grit stone) · matte
SPI C2 (medium stone, 400-grit) · matte

Second life

repairabilitymoderate — solvent-bondable (chloroform, dichloromethane); thermoplastic (re-melts in oven). FDM-print PLA accepts solvent smoothing for visible-face finishing.
recyclabilitymoderate — RIC code 7; industrial-compostable in commercial composters at 60+ °C, NOT home-compostable.
disposal pathindustrial composting where available; otherwise general waste (biodegrades very slowly in landfill conditions).
typical longevity5 years (typical)
failure modes
  • hydrolytic degradation at high humidity / temperature (PLA breaks down in hot car interiors)
  • brittleness — PLA prints crack at low temperatures and stress concentrations
  • creep deformation under sustained load

SPI / PLASTICS recycling guide; NatureWorks Ingeo PLA technical literature; ASTM D6400 industrial-compostable plastic standard.

Citations