Week 7 | Transforming bioplastics
This week was all about bioplastics. We learned the four steps of designing materials and cooked our own homemade bioplastics.
Last updated
This week was all about bioplastics. We learned the four steps of designing materials and cooked our own homemade bioplastics.
Last updated
I used the Bioplastic Cookbook for basic recepies and my kitchen for inspiration.
In week 5, we made a mold with the 3D printer. I will experiment on making bioplastics and use this mold for the end result.
This mold, will make another mold if you pour a mixture of a bioplastic in it. I will use this bioplastic mold to make another bioplastic.
Basic agar agar foam
Gelatine with pureed raspberry
Agar agar cooked with mandarine juice instead of water
Cornstrach with dried hibiscus
Gelatine foam with poppy seeds
Agar agar with paprika spices
Cornstarch with pure cocoa powder
Agar agar foam with mallow
Ingredients Glycerine - 2,7 g Water - 40 g Agar agar - 1,6 g Hand soap - 1 pump of handsoap
The first bioplastic that caught my attention was made with agar agar and soap. What I liked about this was the spongy look that this material has.
Since this was the first attempt, I almost strictly adhered to the recipe to see if it went well. The only differnce is that I used handsoap instead of dish soap.
As soon as I added the soap, the mixture foamed and the substance thickened a bit.
I poured the mixture into a wooden bowl. This, because I want to test different surfaces to see what works best, most beautiful and easiest.
Result
Ingredients Glycerin - 7,2 g Water - 60 g Gelatine - 12 g Raspberry - 2/3 pieces
With this bioplastic I wanted to use a different recipe and add a color to it. Gelatin plastic has a nice smooth texture, so I decided to make it and try it out. I mashed raspberries and added a little while cooking for the colour.
What struck me when making this gelatin bioplastic is that I did not get a lot of froth and it did not get very thick during cooking while it has to do that according the cookbook. Still, I poured it into a mold and I was curious about the result.
I put the maximum amount of glycerine in it (according to the cookbook). This ensures that the bioplastic should become very flexible.
As a mold I used a mini baking tin in the shape of a bundt cake.
Result
Ingredients 1,6 g - Agar 40 ml - Tangerine juice 4,3 g - Glycerine
This bioplastic is also made from agar agar, but without soap. So you don't get the foam effect here. I changed the color here by squeezing a mandarin and using this juice instead of the 40ml of water I had to add.
The amount of glycerine is 4.3. This is quite high, so the end result has to be quite flexible.
Here, too, I used a mini baking tin that I found in my kitchen. This baking tin is rectangular, flexible and has a flat wall and surface.
Result
Ingredients Glycerin - 5 g Water - 80 ml Cornstarch - 1,6 g White vinegar - 15 ml Hibiscus - 2/3 pieces
I made this bioplastic with cornstarch and vinegar, among other things. My stepmother said that hibiscus gives a nice dark red color when you cook it. I followed this advice, pulverized the hibiscus and added it during cooking. While stirring, the mixture became thicker in my opinion. As soon as I poured it into a mold and let it dry at an open window, I quickly noticed that this mixture took much longer to actually dry.
I used the same baking tin as before as a mold. Small, rectangular, flexible and flat.
result
Unfortunately, this mixture failed. After 4 days it didn't dry. So I made a new one with cornstarch and found the mistake. See number 7.
Ingredients Glycerin - 15 g Water - 60 ml Gelatine - 45 g Dish soap - 6 ml Poppy seeds
With the stuff and ingredients I have, I want to make all the recipes that I can. Now only 1 remains. The gelatin foam bioplastic.
When preparing all the ingredients, I noticed that a lot of gelatin was needed compared to the bioplastic based on gelatin I made before (almost 4 times as much). I also saw that there was ml instead of grams. Maybe this was a typo, but I kept the grams.
I found poppy seeds in my spice cabinet. This could give a weird structure to the bioplastic so I decided to throw this into the mixture.
I used a glass jar with a low rim as a mold. When I threw in the mixture, I realized that it might be difficult to take it out when it dries up. According to the cookbook, 15 grams of glycerine is slightly more brittle than flexible.
Result
Ingredients 1,6 g - Agar 40 ml - Water 1,4 g - Glycerine
With 5 different mixtures of bioplastics, I should have had enough. Still I found a nice bowl with interesting shapes in it. Then I decided to make 1 more mixture of agar agar. I gave it a color by means of paprika powder.
Unlike the other agar agar mixture, this is made with water instead of mandarin juice. It also contains about 3 times less glycerine, so the end result must be a lot more brittle.
Result
Ingredients Glycerin - 5 g Water - 80 ml Cornstarch - 1,6 g White vinegar - 15 ml Cocoa powder - 5 g
Didn't work out well. The structure was better than the other cornstarch but still very fragile and sticky. After a week drying, it broke.
I really liked doing this assignment. It was the first time I made bioplastics and I really enjoyed it. It was interesting to see how some products and materials succeeded and failed. Cooking was fairly easy to do if you had a good, precise scale.
I was very curious to make more bioplastics, especially from agar agar, because I wanted to continue with this to see what works to make the material waterproof.
I had recently made one with lemon and malic acid. I poured this into the mold that I made with the 3D printer, but the amount of the mixture was too little, so it didn't really work. After that, I ran out of agar agar. I stopped and I gave my time to all other assignments that I still had to finish. In my spare time I would like to go to buy some agar agar and try to make sure it works because I'm still curious.
