PVA filament(Polyvinyl Alcohol) is soluble in water at a normal temperature, and it is the primary advantage to use as 3d printing filament. Due to this characteristic, usually it is used as supporting material for PLA on FDM 3d printers.
After you print a 3d model with PLA and PVA filament,you can dip it into water. Then PVA material will be melted away in about 24 hours. If you dip the printed object into warmer water, it will be melt faster than in cold water.
But please keep in mind, don’t put it into boiling water or very hot water, because that may damage your prints. And you must store this material in a drying environment. Any exposure to moist environments or water will increase the risk of the PVA material dissolving. And if moisture damages the material, that will cause bubbles in prints. And even you can dry the material in an oven before using it to print. It will increase PVA’s shelf life if you can store the material properly.
You can use it as supporting material for PLA and some other materials. PLA and PVA have the similar printing temperature, so they are a very good pair. But PVA doesn’t work well with ABS. At the same time,you can use it as a single material too.
When printing, we recommend to set up the extrude’s temperature at 190℃~220℃. Its melting point is at 190℃, so you must keep the material away from heated element and high temperature.
If you have a 3d printer with two extrudes, and it works with PLA, then it is a good choice to use PLA+PVA material(For some complex 3d models, supporting material is necessary). Of course, if you have a printer with single extrude, you still can use this material independently.
Compatible 3d printers:
It is compatible with any standard spool based 3D printer, for example, Makerbot, RepRap, Solidoodle, Afinia, and so on.
