On Friday, February 12, 2016 at 4:13:38 PM UTC, T i m wrote:
snipped

No, nor PLA as typically used for 3D printing and 'PLA fibers' as
analysed fairly comprehensively he

http://jimluntllc.com/pdfs/polylactic_fibers.pdf

Thing have discovered experimenting with PCL, AKA Polymorph, moulding not 3D printing , is that it will take enormous amounts of filler.PCL mixed with marble dust is used for short run hydraulic press tools.

PLA noodle for printing comes in all sorts of flavours, so shares its lower melting temp sisters ability to take a lot of filling.

http://www.3domusa.com/shop/buzzed-beer-filament/

Another refernce saying that PLA is UV resistant

http://www.fibersource.com/f-tutor/pla.htm

Interesting thing when looking up PLA is all the research seems to have started in last 5 years or so.



Only plastic that 3D hubs are listing as UV resistant is SLS printed nylon.

I don't know if / how it would ... and it would defeat the object to
some degree but I wonder if it (a 3d printed object used outside) was
painted with a UV protective paint would help? Like many cars that had
fibreglass panels from the factory tended to last better than the
gelcoat / self coloured ones?

Cheers, T i m

Wondering if correct choice of filler could help outdoor durability. Like the `space dust` used on flat roofs in sunny zones of the world.

One for Dennis , annealing PLA to increase strength, is it done normally at all to bake a plastic 3D print to anneal it?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21316612