Does PLA outgas?

I think this might be the place to ask if PLA outgasses anything after it's printed.

Specifically, I was thinking about printing a card box for collectible card games, of which there are many designs freely available, but I'm not sure if someone's printed and used one for storage for a long enough length of time to notice any yellowing of the cards.

I'm printing one now and putting non-valuable cards in there to see if I notice (and a control in a conventional polycarbonate card box), but I'd imagine it may take years to notice by eye.

So, I am wondering if you ever found the answer to your question ? did it outgas

I would be very interested in knowing the answer too.

... I think, 'outgassing' or chemical interactions is more related to the additives, than the PLA itself ...

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Viktor
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Hi Viktor,

Thanks for that. Lucky for me, I work at a NASA lab and so I asked by buddies and they said "Oh, check out the NASA outgassing database." [outgassing.nasa.gov]. (Thank you Greg!)

It turns out that ABS (unknown supplier), MakerGeeks PET and Makerbot PLA have been measured and are listed in the NASA database. Obviously, the outgassing probably varies as a function of manufacturer, and your hint about additives is probably very relevant. Based on the database, I will start with PLA since it showed lower outgassing than ABS or PET, and based on your comment, I'll choose clear PLA to minimize additives.

Zack

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2015 02:25AM by ZGainsforth.