PHA filament - Mostly superior to PLA and actually eco friendly

I’ve made a series of videos about recycling because I care about minimising the environmental impact of my 3D printing. So when my patron NovaPlusPlus informed me about PHA filament, I immediately purchased some to test. In this first part, I compare PHA to PLA, seeing how hard it is to transition, as well as testing the properties of the two. PHA comes out ahead in every area except one.

In a future video, I will share the results of long term testing. Does PHA hold up in normal conditions, and does it biodegrade as advertised?

I purchased this filament with my own money. All onions expressed are my own.

0:00 Introduction

0:46 PLA is not as eco friendly as you think

2:01 What is PHA filament?

3:31 Required tuning for PLA to PHA

6:25 PHA vs PLA testing

10:45 Warping

12:47 Does it actually biodegrade as advertised?

13:38 Is it too late for PHA?

14:32 Conclusion

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[CNCKitchen]

Great work! I actually tested the compostability of PHA ~2 years ago (yet never posted a video on it). ColorFabbs allPHA composts beautifully within a short amount of time, the Canadian Regen PHA on the other hand looked basically untouched after ~ 2 months in my compost. This means that PHAs are not created equally but they are definitely a step into the right direction!

[brucewilliams]

I would probably switch to PHA if it was a similar price to PLA. The heat stability alone would be helpful and not worrying about drying the filament would be a plus; hope that gets tested. Thanks for the video.

[DerrickBarra]

I collaborated with Beyond Plastic and tested their PHA formulation, the warping issue is that formulations main issue. Check out the PHA subreddit, I have some research posts showing how to fix the issue entirely, however the answer was to expose my Prusa MK4 to near freezing temps inside of my refrigerator!

The former Beyond Plastic engineers are still working on a "next generation" PHA, which should resolve the warp issue without needing to freeze the ambient air around the printer to prevent the warping that occurs during the crystallization process. Keep an eye out for it in the future, you can actually sign up for the testing in the subreddit.

[ConiferGrower]

We have begun testing PHA for use in my Conifer nursery. I am excited at the possibility of manufacturing my own root pruning bio-degradable containers instead of being reliant on Jiffy.

[aldabest]

In my experience, there are 3 major downfalls to PHA:
1. Warping, as you mentioned
2. Bridging, as you mentioned briefly
3. Malleability or lack of rigidity. PHA is very soft compared to PLA or PETG, which makes it unsuitable for structural prints. Anything <0.8mm wall thickness is very bendable and does not want to bend back to its original shape.

Oh yeah and one more that you also mentioned: it’s difficult to source

[ILD]

I have a bit of experience with pha. I’ve known it for quite a while and in the plastic industry they call it the sleeping giant because of its untapped potential. The industry is more into recycled plastics (for now at least) than producing true bio polymers. Also (for what I experienced with a couple of moulders) pha is not easy to injection mold with standard equipment and it deforms a lot when out of the mold even after a long cycle time. It’s more dense than common abs and more difficult to source so it costs a lot. Manufacturers are not ready for it it but maybe 3d printing people are, I personally really like the fact that it’s basically bacteria juice! 😊

[_Xantras_]

Thank you so much for talking about it !! As you might have seen on the Wikipedia article, PHA is not a single polymer but a family of polymers with some of which have very interesting properties such as PBS.
Sustainability tends to be dismissed in 3D printing but there are so many efforts to use 3DP as a medium for recycling and sustainable materials, it's a shame they aren't talked about more.
So thank you once again for this video

[eggbag]

Anyone else notice the description says "all onions expressed are my own"

[xenontesla]

I tried out printing with PHA as an alternate material for a flute I designed. It worked pretty well! Just a little sagging on bridges and I made sure to put a big no-clearance brim on it which was easy to remove afterward. Even though it's tougher along the XY plane, I did notice that it wasn't as strong between the layers as PLA. I was able to snap my flute in half by hand (and CA glue it back together). I hope PHA catches on to reduce all the plastic waste 3D printing usually generates. I look forward to the biodegrading tests

[cczeroX]

Very interesting stuff. I noticed that colorFabb from the nEtherlands has something called allPHA which appears to be PHA and in stock. Price point is 25€ for 750g which is pretty ok and not as expensive as I expected given the comments. Definitely gonna try this on the next actual product for selling. Should be a nice alternative to the other filaments.

Edit: Small correction, the price was missing tax, so it's actually 32€/750g. Which puts it about 2x of simple PLA.

[Yvounet]

I am seriously considering stopping PLA for PHA for my next spool order. Thanks for this video. Compostable and eco friendly plastic is a default choice for me.
The model you choose for the test is a good idea, but I would like to have like a thin layer (just a rectangle) of maybe 0.5mm ? To see holes with a light behind or deformation after composting.
Thanks for the excellent work !

[TopengProductions]

I was completely unaware of PHA but will now 100% be looking into it more. This could be a real game changer for stuff like making action figures and especially for injection molding. Most of the real negatives for injection molding PLA in different applications are brittleness and heat sensitivity but PHA removes those as an issue in many respects. PHA could be a real contender for a sustainable and far more applicable bio-plastic in the future and I really hope we see more of it. Incredibly exciting!

[tenchuu]

Absolutely I would buy it. It's exactly what I'm looking for, and I can fix the warping. Very interested in the next video with actual biodegradability.

[dh]

Thank you for this great video. I'm very excited to see your compost tests. We havent heard of pha before but thanks to your video we ordered some pha from colorfabb and will do some tests. Hopefully we will switch to pha for some products. Real Biodegenerability is a game changer and absolutely worth the higher price point.

[coledavidson]

7:14 this is very appealing to me, i hate when parts of my prints look like a different color or texture bc of nozzle speed variations. If the warping can be mitigated and the price is reasonable, this might become my goto for basic stuff.

[oyuyuy]

Aww man, I was very intrigued but the warping is a big deal for me. I'm running a business and thus reliability is key.

[Remius]

Another Great Video. 1. No plastic wrap, TICK. 2. Print process and quality TICK, 3. Price will be an issue, but the more we see of this test, if biodegradability is proven, I'll put it in the shopping list each time.

[dSquared]

Yes, lots of potential benefits - particularly for in-air and in-sun uses requiring more strength. Looking forward to the test results! 14:57 👍

[xeektdx]

Very good video. You delivered on what you promised, it was descriptive, and it wasn't too long or too short. Thank you. 😊

[Thulken]

Hi Michael! Good content as usual!

Regarding availability of PHA; I use Colorfabb's PLA/PHA alot, very pleased with it being not as brittle as PLA already with that blend. But more to the point, Colorfabb has a rather new product namely their pure PHA. It's called allPHA and from what I can see, in stock. I tried it when I helped a friend repair his electric kettle. I can only agree on the warping tendencies, but that aside an interesting material.

BR