Dissolving PLA using Lactic Acid Hi guys, I know nothing about chemistry but I was cleaning my coffee machine this morning with a Lactic Acid based cleaner and I was wondering, has anyone ever tried to melt pla or clean their nozzle with this stuff? Now its called Poly Lactic Acid... so it all seems too obvious to me to actually work but you never know. Unfortunately i'm out of the stuff right now so I cant try right away. I would expect it to break down the pla to some extent but... then again, no chem knowledge so... As you can imagine Google didnt help much... googling lactic acid and PLA is like looking for a needle in a hay stack, google cant make the difference between the acid and the plastic. Fred. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295231,295231#msg-295231 Sun, 19 Apr 2026 16:22:24 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295231,296533#msg-296533 Re: Dissolving PLA using Lactic Acid https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295231,296533#msg-296533
Quote
ecoreprap
I do not think PLA can dissolve in the lactic acid.But do believe that PLA filament can dissolve in Chloroform.

Guess I have a new use for my chloroform stash...]]> gmh39 General Fri, 17 Jan 2014 11:53:48 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295231,296446#msg-296446 Re: Dissolving PLA using Lactic Acid https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295231,296446#msg-296446
Read [en.wikipedia.org] and generally for finding information on this you will have better luck by googling "Solvents for PLA"

PLA and several co-polymers advertised as PLA can generally be attacked with Acetone, however it won't dissolve it, but you will end up with a brittle composite that is possible to mechanically clean more easily, it also takes several hours.
More interesting information:
[hackaday.com]]]> cannonpr General Fri, 17 Jan 2014 09:37:20 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295231,296284#msg-296284 Re: Dissolving PLA using Lactic Acid https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295231,296284#msg-296284 ecoreprap General Fri, 17 Jan 2014 04:43:12 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295231,295340#msg-295340 Re: Dissolving PLA using Lactic Acid https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295231,295340#msg-295340 iquizzle General Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:43:30 -0500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295231,295231#msg-295231 Dissolving PLA using Lactic Acid https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,295231,295231#msg-295231
I know nothing about chemistry but I was cleaning my coffee machine this morning with a Lactic Acid based cleaner and I was wondering, has anyone ever tried to melt pla or clean their nozzle with this stuff?

Now its called Poly Lactic Acid... so it all seems too obvious to me to actually work but you never know.

Unfortunately i'm out of the stuff right now so I cant try right away.

I would expect it to break down the pla to some extent but... then again, no chem knowledge so...

As you can imagine Google didnt help much... googling lactic acid and PLA is like looking for a needle in a hay stack, google cant make the difference between the acid and the plastic.

Fred.]]> thecrazy General Wed, 15 Jan 2014 13:32:48 -0500