Agar Ag18 (Solid, without Plasticizer)
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Last updated
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^ The bioplastic is the little round thing in the straw
Ingredients:
Water (50 mL)
Agar agar powder (3.5 g)
Procedure:
Mix all the ingredients into a pan or pot
Heat up all the ingredients to 85-90 C on the stove
Mix thoroughly
Lower heat if bubbles are forming on the bottom of the pan
Take off heat after about 4 minutes of stirring or until the agar is fully dissolved (the solution is at least 85 C and thicker than when started, almost syrupy)
Cast into a straw
After about 15 minutes or when the bioplastic is set, carefully take out the bioplastic from the straw
Chop into pellets or keep as a rod
Let dry for a few days
Optional: after it dries and has shrunk, put it into a waffle maker to remelt it, and then (once it has cooled down a bit) mold it with your hands into the desired shape. This shape should not shrink again, as you already let it dry earlier, so there is no more moisture to escape.
Done!
Properties:
Before drying: thick liquid
During drying: thick jello
After drying: pretty hard
Notes:
This stuff shrinks a lot! (7.5mm to 3mm in thickness, which is an 84 percent decrease in size)
This is a pretty good recipe for making hard stuff
Images:
Rev2:
I cast the same recipe into The Tube this time. Unfortunately, since the tube has a larger diameter, the bioplastic also had a larger diameter, meaning that I couldn't push it through my modified extruder, so I couldn't make any filament. Next time, I'll find a smaller tube and use that. This did manage to shrink though, with a whopping 93% decrease in size.
Images:
