HT-PLA High-Temp PLA
PLA that prints easy and takes heat after a trip through the oven. The grade code you see on our deals cards as HT-PLA.
Last updated: July 2026
Standard PLA has one killer weakness: it softens around 55-60°C. A dashboard clip, a part left in a summer car, anything near a hot end assembly, and it slowly sags. HT-PLA (high-temperature PLA) is a reformulated PLA that fixes this through annealing: you print the part like normal PLA, then heat-treat it, and the plastic crystallizes into a form that holds shape at 120-150°C depending on the brand.
The appeal is that you keep everything that makes PLA the easiest material to print: low nozzle temps, no enclosure, minimal warping, sharp detail. The heat resistance comes afterwards, in an oven (or boiling water for some brands) at roughly 80-110°C for 10-60 minutes. Polymaker's HT-PLA is the best-known example and is formulated to anneal with minimal shrinkage; FormFutura's Volcano PLA was one of the originals in this niche.
The glass-fiber variant, HT-PLA-GF, adds stiffness on top of the heat resistance and keeps its shape better through the annealing cycle. If the part is structural (brackets, mounts) rather than just heat-exposed, the GF version is usually worth the small premium. It needs a hardened nozzle like any fiber-filled filament.
Against standard PLA and PLA+: identical printing experience, but after annealing an HT-PLA part survives temperatures that would turn either of them soft. Un-annealed, HT-PLA behaves like ordinary PLA, so the heat treatment is not optional if heat is why you bought it.
Against ABS or ASA: those resist heat straight off the printer with no post-processing, and they take outdoor UV better. But they demand an enclosure, ventilation and warp management. HT-PLA is the answer when you want 100°C+ parts from an open-frame printer in a living space.
The honest caveat: annealing adds a step, and dimensional accuracy after the oven varies by brand and part geometry. For a press-fit part, print a test piece, anneal it, and measure before committing to the final print.
Polymaker HT-PLA and HT-PLA-GF (the reference implementation, minimal-shrink annealing), FormFutura Volcano PLA (the veteran, rated to ~110°C annealed), colorFabb, Spectrum, and The Filament's budget HT line. Live per-kg prices for all of them are in the table below; The Filament's spools regularly land under €20/kg while Polymaker runs €24-35/kg.