# Heat Joining Bioplastic

For this experiment, I decided to see if I could heat join bioplastic with two different methods: One by using the semi-heated tip of a hot glue gun (no glue was used), and the other one by using a professional impact sealer for plastic bags.

When I used the hot glue gun, I just pushed the nozzle into the bioplastic (Ag15), and hoped that both sides would melt and join, similar to how I imagine welding works. Unfortunately, this didn't quite work out, as I could easily open the "melted" joint. There were also holes between the weld spots.

Here are the images and results from the glue gun:

![](/files/PFZ8R09GwaSSvdYaGk3D)

And:

![](/files/osmg8f5brgs1wGEIIzQN)

The next part of this experiment was using equipment that is actually supposed to join plastic together. This machine is commercially available for around $50 and is called an impact sealer (I used one at a local makerspace). To use it, you simply fold the bioplastic over on itself and pop it into the machine. It then melts a fine line in the bioplastic, hopefully joining the two halves. This proved to be much more successful than the hot glue gun, but I did run into some issues. For one, the heating element became way too hot, and I think it more or less burned the bioplastic instead of melting it.

Here are some results and images from the impact sealer:

![](/files/OkIrNrjkWSDozzewE52n)

And:

![](/files/NwmQgrm7anG4qX23P32X)

And:

![](/files/HMPe86lMG7H6nLuPAGRo)

And finally:

![](/files/cjLnny83J8VvwEfFpP4O)


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://nicholsonlabs.gitbook.io/labs/bioplastic/experiments-with-bioplastic/heat-joining-bioplastic.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.