I use an Ender-3 3D printer with no additional modifications, due to a specific project I require printing of material that is more heat resistant than the usual PLA by at least 40 - 50 °C. A method to somehow increase the melting temperature of the PLA also helps.
I ask for help on this situation, could anyone kindly inform me on the modifications/steps I may need to take in order to print more heat resistant parts?
If you look up the Ender 3, e.g. this version you see that the maximum print temperature is 300 °C. Up to that temperature you can use various materials that are more resistant to temperature than PLA.
The specifications of the Ender 3 state you can use:
All listed can be printed on the Ender 3, eall materials listed other than PLA have better heat resistance (higher glass transition temperature, the temperature when a thermoplast weakens).
PETG is one of the easiest to print from the list above and is better equipped against heat than PLA. ABS is the most difficult to print from that list, but, together with ASA and TPU the most heat resistant; ASA is more difficult to print, but can be done provided you get it to stick well to the build plate and use a draft shield and print in a room without draft. TPU could also be challenging, but is resistant to high temperatures, you could put this in the dishwasher or steam clean it to have a food safe print.
PLA can be annealed (some formulations better than others), increasing the heat deflection temperature up to (depending on the specific material and whose test results you believe and how much force it needs to withstand at high temperature) somewhere between 90 °C and 140 °C. Variants sold as "high temperature" PLA ("HTPLA") tend to be more suitable to annealing and give better results. "High speed" PLA (including Creality's "Hyper PLA") will be the worst for this. Look for products based on Natureworks Ingeo 3D870 resin. Very few vendors document what base resin they use, but some do. I'm familiar with Fusion Filaments who does offer it.
Other options would be PET, PETG, ABS, or ASA, but these cannot be printed well (some of them not at all) on an original Ender 3 with PTFE-lined hotend, which can't be safely operated over around 245 °C. If your Ender has an all-metal hotend though you could print them. These materials are good to somewhere between 75 °C and 100 °C.
If you do not need extreme rigidity, TPU, normally thought of as flexible, can be very rigid if you use a 95A or even better 98A hardness variant, and print with high or 100% infill, as long as the part geometry itself isn't thin. TPU is good to over 100 °C without deforming.
If it is a small part you want to print, then use ASA (HDT of about 90 °C, depending on the brand) and simply put the printer inside a Creality enclosure and leave the heated bed active for 15 minutes before starting to print. This will raise the temperature inside to about 40-45 °C and you can print ASA parts, or maybe maybe some small polycarbonate or PC/ABS parts.
For very large parts you will need a printer which is already enclosed and offers an actively heated chamber, for example QIDI Q1 Pro: it prints ABS (resistance: at least 75 °C, likely 80-85 °C) as easily as PLA, and can do ASA quite easily.
