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.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2014 01:39PM by thecrazy.

I have no idea if this would work, but there is the old saying "like dissolves like".

I do not think PLA can dissolve in the lactic acid.But do believe that PLA filament can dissolve in Chloroform.

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Generally speaking, anything you can dissolve PLA in, you really don't want in your home. Chloroform asides from being implicated in heart failure is carcinogenic, also if you spill it, it can quickly evaporate, knock you unconscious and yea...

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]

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2014 09:41AM by cannonpr.

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...

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