Bambu Lab PLA Aero Filament 1.75mm 1kg

PLA Aero is a foaming filament. Above roughly 230°C it expands as it leaves the nozzle, filling the extrusion with tiny voids, and the part comes out dramatically lighter than the same shape printed in ordinary PLA. It's the material RC and UAV builders reach for — gliders, airframes, aerodynamic shells, anything where grams matter more than absolute strength.

The unusual thing is that you set the density yourself, with nozzle temperature. Print it cool and it behaves much like normal PLA; print it hot and it foams harder, gets lighter, and gives up some strength. That trade is the entire point of the material, and it takes a test print or two to find the number you want.

At a glance

Density is adjustable for this one. As it is a foaming filament, you control how many voids you want and the part comes out lighter — control how much lighter using nozzle temperature.

Worth knowing

The density figure in the specs is the filament, not the print. That distinction is the whole product: the strand going in is ordinary PLA density, and what comes out is full of voids. How light depends on how hot you run it, so treat the number as a starting point rather than a spec for your finished part.

Print slower than you would PLA Basic. Bambu caps it at 180 mm/s against Basic's 250, because the foaming needs time to happen in the melt rather than after the plastic has landed.

Strength is modest and you should expect that — 24 MPa tensile against PLA Basic's 35, and it stretches only 2.6% before breaking, so it is comparatively brittle. Layer adhesion is the weak axis: bending strength drops from 45 MPa across the layers to 17 MPa along them, so orient anything load-bearing with that in mind.

One caveat straight from the data sheet: annealing is not recommended for very light, thin-walled prints at low infill — exactly the parts you are most likely to make with this. They deform. Anneal the chunky pieces if you want, leave the airframes alone.

Storage

Bambu specifies under 20% RH, sealed with desiccant, and 55°C for 8 hours before printing. A sealed box with fresh desiccant does the job, or a filament dryer if you have one. Drop a cheap hygrometer in the box so you're not guessing.

Moisture matters more here than on a normal PLA, because trapped water turns to steam at these temperatures and foams the extrusion unpredictably — on top of the usual popping, stringing and rough surfaces. If your density comes out inconsistent between prints, dry the spool before changing anything else.