Special purpose filament: light diffusion

Hey,
long story short, because I've also written down my current dilemma here on https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3497938 :
I do have filament that's really good at diffusing light. I use it for backlit projects.
My big problem is: I cannot get in anymore. The filament sold by the same company now is different to what it was 6 years ago.
The filament I use is RepRapper natural PLA from 2013.
All new filaments I've tested so far are pretty bad at diffusing light.

e.g.:


Filaments aren't advertised with their light diffusion properties... Since I don't want to buy more useless rolls of filament, I need your help. I'd appreciate every make you do on https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3497938

What do you think, is this a niche case that won't ever get addressed directly? Or might diffusing filament actually be something that filament manufacturers should have a look at?

Thx!

Have you tried varying speed and temperature? The Inland PETG I print with, if I use my fast settings, prints comes out matte and milky, but with slower settings comes out shinier and clearer. The effect may/may not be the same in PLA.

I've tested different temps on the RepRapper 2019 filament with no noticeable effect.
I've not tested speeds. I print with 40-60mm/s for all my prints. I can see how faster movement may create more imperfections in the extrusion and thus give little more diffusion, but that's not what I want. The material itself should be diffusive, not only its surface due to imperfections.

I don't have any advice except in the future to consider stockpiling + sealing rare filaments. This is an unfortunate consequence of being market dependent. Someday if Reprap is able to make its entire supply chain, you won't need to worry about the market cutting off supply

Maybe you can contact Filament Companies directly and request this.

I remember watching Thomas Sanladerer's video where he was at Proto-pasta and they were making custom Filaments.

Companies might make a new category of filaments for this... your pic really shows a good example of Light Diffusion.

(I'm not affiliated with or have ever even used Proto-pasta filament, I just thought it was a great video and remembered it when reading your post)