November 17, 2022

PHA and the Beyond Plastic 3D Printer Filament

What is PHA?

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are formed by several microorganisms in nature that significantly help in biodegradability. Polyester is one solution to many environmental pollution problems and thus this property of PHA makes it highly demanding. Today, with a greater attention and desire to preserve and heal our environment, the demand for PHA has surged to new heights and continues to do. So much so that industries are actively tasking scientists to create cost-effective polyester and PHA based products.

Beyond Plastic product line:

Our premium 3D printer filaments are a fully commercialized 100% biodegradable PHA polymer and are designed by professionals for an extremely high-detail resolution in a way that they can easily be used to fit into any 3D printer model. Beyond Plastic 3D Printer filaments return to the earth as bio-mass particulates that are consumed by naturally occurring micro-biomes in the environment. All other so-called "recyclable" and "bio-degradable" plastic/polymer materials breakdown into harmful micro-plastics that will never fully reabsorb into environmentally friendly byproducts.

NO GREENWASHING. NO exaggerated claims. NO hidden trade-offs. NO carbon credit off-sets.

EASY-TO-USE filament fluidly fits into any 3D printer model with the toughness and durability needed for accurate and precise design work. NO bubbling, NO clogging, NO warping, and odor free.

FULLY RECYCLABLE SPOOL made from recycled paperboard so that all parts of the product are truly biodegradable.

NOTE: Our material will transition from an amorphous state to becoming crystallized at room temperature. Therefore, the part will change in strength and density if printed too hot. If you want to ensure the part is fully crystalized for high dimensional accuracy, we suggest you let it rest for 24 hours or incubate on a filament dryer at 60°C for 8 hours.

FILAMENT SPECIFICATIONS

Nominal Diameter	Diameter Tolerances	Ovality
1.75 mm	± 0.1 mm	Less than 95%
Net Weight	600g/1kg

MATERIAL TECHNICAL DATA SHEET

Properties	Standard	Conditions	Unit	Value
Specific Gravity	ASTM D792	23 °C	g/cm3	1.22
MFR	ASTM D1238	170 °C/2.16 kg	g/10 min	50
Max Breaking Force	ASTM D882	1 mm/min	N	580
Elongation at Break	ASTM D882	1 mm/min	%	15
Young Modulus	ASTM D882	1 mm/min	N/mm2	1,200
Melting Temperature	DSC	5 °C/min	°C	170
Glass Transition	DSC	5 °C/min	°C	5
Thermal Degradation	TGA	5 °C/min	°C	250

* The data presented is intended to help the customer with the printing process but may vary depending on the type of printer and process settings.

3D Printing Guidance:

A 3-dimensional solid item is created by methodically layering material on its top and then the printer reads the file from the computer which commands how to layer the material to shape the item. The steps to create 3D designs using PHA 3D printer filament are:

Establish A Design: The first step to 3D printing is to create the design of your choice on the computer through any designing software. There’s a wide range of designs available on the internet that can be used if design creation over the computer is not possible.
STL File: The next step in the process is to export/download the file into STL format which stores the concept of the 3D design you chose.
Material Selection: There are a number of materials used for printing such as PET-G and PLA, however, we recommend using our truly 100% biodegradable PHA polymer. As we have grown fond of saying, “Make an impact and leave no trace™”.
Parameters Selection: This step is based on deciding the size and placement of the print and once these parameters are finalized, we move on to the next step.
Creating Gcode: Gcode is a code comprising exact commands for the printer. After all the above steps, the STL file is then converted into a slicing software BCN3D Cura which functions as the converter of the information of the STL file into Gcode.
Result: Finally, the printer starts creating the object layer after layer and this is when the printing is concluded time for printing may vary depending on the size of your print and the materials selected.