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Silk PLA
$19.95
1.75 mm diameter · 1 kg net filament per spool
Silk PLA is made for prints that get noticed. Its high-gloss, pearlescent finish catches light on every curve — turning vases, figures and gifts into standout pieces with no post-processing at all.
Printing & drying
- Material
- PLA
- Diameter
- 1.75 mm
- Spool
- 1 kg net
- Nozzle
- 190–230°C
- Bed
- 35–65°C
- Printing speed
- < 220 mm/s
- Part cooling
- High
- Enclosure
- Not required
- Nozzle type
- Standard brass
- Drying
- 50 ± 5°C for 8h
These are typical working ranges for orientation. The label on the spool you receive is authoritative for that batch. More detail in the storage and drying guide and the troubleshooting guide.
Shipping
- Packed and dispatched from Sydney, Australia.
- Every spool ships sealed with desiccant.
- Tracking is provided on every order.
- Buying more than a few spools? Bulk Orders gets you a quote and a supply plan.
Current delivery timeframes are on the Shipping & Returns page.
Returns & warranty
- Backed by the Australian Consumer Law.
- Spool faults are a product fault, not a settings problem. Contact us with your order number and photos.
- Not sure whether it is the spool or the printer? The five-minute triage tells you which half is at fault.
Full terms on the Shipping & Returns page.
Material details
Silk PLA is the opposite bet to matte. Instead of hiding the surface it polishes it, producing a high-gloss, almost metallic sheen that runs along the layers and catches the light as the piece turns. It is the filament people print vases and display pieces in, and it is also the one most likely to disappoint if you print it like ordinary PLA.
What Silk PLA is good for
The sheen comes from additives that let the extrusion flow out smooth and reflective rather than matte. That same change makes the polymer softer and more slippery, which is why silk behaves a little differently on the printer and why its mechanical numbers sit at the bottom of the PLA range. Bought for what it looks like, it is unmatched.
How Silk PLA prints
The manufacturer’s published window is a nozzle at 190–230 °C and a bed at 35–65 °C with adhesive, at speeds up to 220 mm/s. That speed ceiling is the one number to respect — it is a third below Core PLA’s, and pushing past it is the most common reason a silk print comes out dull or with visible gaps between the walls.
Two habits give you the gloss the material is capable of. Run the nozzle towards the hotter end of the range, so each bead flows into its neighbour instead of sitting beside it. And ease the part cooling back from what you would give Core PLA — silk wants a moment longer in the melt to level out. Slow, hot and gently cooled is the recipe; fast and cold is why some people conclude silk PLA is hard to print.
What Silk PLA will not do
Read this before you buy it for the wrong job
Silk PLA is the weakest material in the catalogue. Its tensile strength of 26 ± 3 MPa and impact strength of 25.5 ± 2.2 kJ/m² are the lowest published figures here — roughly a third of Core PLA’s impact resistance. The same additives that make it flow smooth also weaken the bond between layers, so silk prints split along a layer line more readily than any other PLA.
Its heat resistance is the lowest too: heat deflection at 54 °C and Vicat softening at 58 °C. And the gloss is unforgiving of print faults — a blob, a seam or a bit of stringing that would vanish on matte is lit up by the sheen. Do not choose silk for a part that carries load, and do not choose it for a model you have not printed cleanly before.
If the part has a job to do, the range goes elsewhere:
- Core PLA — far tougher
- PLA+ — functional prints
- Matte PLA — hides faults instead
- Dual-Silk — two colours in one strand
The Materials Guide has a section on choosing a finish, and the troubleshooting guide covers the seams and blobs silk makes obvious.
Every colour, one material
Every colour of this silk PLA filament is the same polymer with the same settings — only the pigment changes. The metallics and the brights share a profile, so a set of prints in different colours comes out with a consistent sheen. Each colour is its own tile in the store, so what you click is what arrives.
10 colours in this material
Printer compatibility
Silk PLA is 1.75mm 3D printer filament on a standard 1 kg spool, so it runs on any FDM printer that takes 1.75 mm — Bambu Lab, Prusa, Creality, Elegoo, Anycubic and the rest. Standard brass nozzle, no hardware change. It feeds through an AMS or other multi-material unit like any unfilled PLA. The spool label states a diameter tolerance of ±0.02 mm, and the filament tip is secured before packing so the spool does not tangle mid-print.
- Bambu Lab
- Prusa
- Creality
- Elegoo
- Anycubic
- Sovol
- Any 1.75 mm FDM printer
Storage, drying and shelf life
A damp spool costs you the gloss before it costs you anything else. Moisture in silk PLA produces micro-bubbles that scatter light at exactly the scale the finish depends on, so a print comes out patchy and dull rather than obviously faulty — which makes it easy to blame the settings instead.
Every spool ships sealed with desiccant. Keep it that way between prints and drying will not come up. If a spool has been open through a humid season, the manufacturer’s figure is 50 ± 5 °C for 8 hours in a dryer or blast oven, with storage below 20% relative humidity. The storage and drying guide covers what that looks like in practice.
Technical specifications
Preparation Before Printing
- Drying settings (blast drying oven)
- 50 ± 5 °C for 8h
- Printing & storage humidity
- ≤ 20% RH (Sealed with Desiccant)
Recommended Printing Settings
- Nozzle temperature
- 190 - 230 °C
- Bed temperature (with glue)
- 35 - 65 °C
- Printing speed
- < 220 mm/s
Physical Properties
- Density
- 1.25 g/cm³
- Melt index
- 28.7 ± 2.1 g/10 min
- Melting temperature
- 164 °C
- Vicat softening temperature
- 58 °C
- Heat deflection temperature
- 54 °C
Mechanical Properties
- Tensile strength
- 26 ± 3 MPa
- Elongation at break
- 9.7% ± 2.3%
- Bending strength
- 79 ± 2 MPa
- Bending modulus
- 2816 ± 136 MPa
- Impact strength
- 25.5 ± 2.2 kJ/m²
Manufacturer figures for PLA Silk, from PLA Series Parameters. Test values are measured on standard samples and are for design comparison — real-world results depend on your printer, settings and model.
Common questions about Silk PLA
Is silk PLA different from regular PLA?
Chemically it is still PLA, with additives that change how the melt flows and how the surface sets. Functionally the difference is significant: it prints slower, wants a hotter nozzle and less cooling, and the published mechanical figures are the lowest in the catalogue. Treat it as its own material rather than PLA in a shinier colour.
Why is my silk PLA not shiny?
Almost always too fast, too cold, or too much fan. The gloss depends on each bead flowing into the one beside it, which needs heat and time. Run the nozzle nearer 230 °C than 190, keep speeds within the 220 mm/s ceiling, and ease the part cooling back. A damp spool will also flatten the sheen.
How do I get the best finish from silk PLA?
Print it in vase mode where the model allows — a single continuous wall with no seams or infill is where silk looks its best. Otherwise, hide the layer seam on a back edge, slow the outer wall down, and keep the model free of steep overhangs that need heavy cooling.
Is silk PLA strong enough for functional parts?
No. At 26 MPa tensile and 25.5 kJ/m² impact strength it is the weakest thing we sell, and its layer adhesion is the reason. Print functional parts in Core PLA or PLA+ and save silk for the shelf.
Can I print silk PLA with a 0.4 mm nozzle?
Yes, and most people do. Standard brass is fine — there is nothing abrasive in it. A wider nozzle lays down more material per pass and can make the sheen more even on large flat faces, but it is not required.
How much can I print from a 1 kg spool?
At silk PLA’s density of 1.25 g/cm³, a 1 kg spool of 1.75 mm filament holds roughly 335 metres. Vase-mode prints use very little material for their size, so a spool goes a long way on exactly the prints this filament suits.
Does silk PLA need drying more than normal PLA?
It is not thirstier, but it is less forgiving. Moisture shows up as a dull, uneven surface rather than obvious stringing, so keep it sealed with its desiccant between prints.
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