Biofabricating Materials¶

A collaborative works by Ruby Lennox, Maria-Rigina Chatzivalasi, Julija Karas, Hala Amer, ChungHan Lu with mentorship from Petra and Julia.

Research¶

Introduction of Biomaterials

There are 2 common definitions of biomaterials:

A material derived from, or produced by, biological organisms like plants, animals, bacteria, fungi and other life forms. These are also called biologically derived materials. A material used for a biological purpose such as a biomedical application like treating an injury or growing biological cells. These may be synthetic.

credit: Penn state college of agricultural sciences, Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education


Bioplastic	a biobased polymer desived from a biomass. It is comprised of a biopolymer, plasticizer, and a solvent.
Polymer	assemblies of identical chemical subunits, called monomers, that are linked together in the form of a chain.
Biobased	Made of bacteria, fungi, mineral, vegetal, biosyntehtic, and animal.
Biodegradable	Degrades in specific conditions like pH sensitive environments, thermo sensitive, and enzymes.
Biocompostable	composted in 90 days like bacteria, mycelium, animals, etc.
Crafted	Casted, extruded, and/or assembled.
Grown	from scratch like fingii, microbial, and lab grown leathers.

What can Bioplastics be made of?


	Plastics	Bioplastics
Polymer	Polymer	Alginate, gelatine, starch, etc
Plasticizer	to create flexibility	glycerine (the more glycerine the more elastic but never exceed the 1:1 ration)
Filler	to avoid shrinkage	any waste like egg shells, chalk, fibers, oils, etc
Stiffening	agent for structure and reinforcement	fibers and natural debri, roots, plant matter
Expanding	agent to create foams	green soaps and emulsifiers (waste water of canned chickpeas could be used)

Plastics are usually made by mixing polymers with:

Biomaterials design properties are divided into structure, texture, color, and transparency.

You can make it magnetic by adding anything in the mixture that is magnet or magnetite. You can make it conductive by adding charcoal in it.

It matters what the sheets are casted on because it will adopt the textures and structures from the molds.

To play with the structural color of the cast, you can use defraction sheets.

Reference Projects¶


	Tatami ReFAB	Repurposing and re-embeding tatami mats in modern life in Japan using 3D printing technology.
	Algae Plastics	Using aquatic algae, drying them, and using them in material that can be 3D Printed.
	Heterotopia	Screenprinting on lasercut carrot leather bag.
	Flax chair	The Flax chair is the result of combine woven linen and PLA.
	Flax chair	The FLOCKS Wobot is a made from local European wools that would be otherwise disposed of and co-work with robot to build three-dimensional structures.

Standard Recipes¶

Sodium Alginate¶

"The sodium salt from alginic acid and gum mainly extracted from the cell walls of brown algae. Brown seaweeds are usually larfe, and range from the giant kelp that is often 20m long, to thick, leather-like seaweeds from 2 - 4m long, to smaller species 30 - 60cm long." (Credit Material Archive TextileLab Amsterdam)

Sodium Alginate Full Collage

Special Characteristics¶


Water Resistance	Sodium Alginate becomes water proof! Will only dissolve in alkaline water.
Heat Resistance	Withstands temperatures up to 150 degrees celsius.

Alginate Recipes // Global Lecture

Alginate Recipe Cecilia

Top two recipes will remain transparent even with pigments and the bottom will become matte.

Gelatine¶

Animal derived ingredient made from collagen present in animal parts.

Gelatine Full Collage

Special Characteristic:¶


Water Resistance	Takes a couple of hours before dissolving in water.
Heat Resistance	Not heat resistant at all. Begins melting at 50 degrees celsius.

Gelatine Recipes // Global Lecture

Recasting gelatine that has already cured makes more stable materials.

Gelatine Recipe Cecilia

Agar Agar¶

A jelly-like substance obtained from red algae. "Agar is a mixture of two components: the linear polysaccharide agarose, and a heterogenous mixture of smaller molecules called agaropectin. Agar is a compoind known as a polysaccharide." (Credit Material Archive TextileLab Amsterdam)

Agar Full Collage

Special Characteristic:¶


Water Resistance	It dissolves in room temperature water in a few hours and hot water immediately.
Heat Resistance	Not heat resistant. Best for short term use.

Agar Recipes // Global Lecture

Agar Recipe by Cecilia

Some tips, Agar can be casted in very thin films, resembling plastic foils. It can never be elastic but it is flexible. (Credit Material Archive TextileLab Amsterdam)

Resin¶

Resin Full Collage

Leather¶

Carrot Leather

Leather Full Collage

Banana Leather

Banana Leather Full Collage

Mushroom Leather

Mushroom Leather Full Collage

Mycelium¶

Mycelium Full Collage

Overview material research outcomes¶

Agar Agar // Stretch Foil¶

Agar Foil Test Using the stretch Bio-Foil recipe from the Global Lecture and pouring out a think layer.

main experimenter: Hala Amer¶

Agar Agar // Flexible Foil¶

Left to right stiff to flexible Using the flexible Bio-Foild recipe from the Global Lecture. Starting with no glycerol until 6g of glycerol (left to right).

main experimenter: Hala Amer¶

Agar agar // Glycerol¶

Based on recipe above, but in or to achieve "super elastic", add 48g Glycerol (initially elastic one 32g Glycerol), lay it on a flexible plastic sheet and try shaping it by rolling while it's partially dry.

main experimenter: ChungHan Lu¶

Agar agar // Glycerol¶

Based on recipe above, but in or to achieve "super elastic", added 48g Glycerol (initially elastic one 32g Glycerol), cast with the mold.

main experimenter: ChungHan Lu¶

Agar Agar // Sawdust // Pressed¶

Recipe above for Agar Agar with sawdust added. Spread in even layer with circular moulds placed on top and pushed in for whole drying process.

main experimenter: Ruby Lennox¶

Agar Agar // Eggshells¶

Agar Agar Foil recipe with Eggshells Letting the agar become more viscous before adding the eggshells into the mixture. Puring it on a circular wooden surface and allowing it to dry on it.

main experimenter: Hala Amer¶

Agar Agar // Foam¶

Agar Foam Whisking the regular agar recipe with soap to make a foam.

main experimenter: Hala Amer¶

Gelatin // Glycerol // Cabbage pigment¶

Recipe above(elstice one), added caggage pigment from Biochorme week. Unexpectedly, there were some burnt gelatin residues left at the bottom of the pot that got mixed into the new material during cooking. The dye's color isn't very pronounced, but these burnt gelatin substances added a new texture.

main experimenter: ChungHan Lu & Barbara Rakovská¶

Gelatin // Glycerol // Embedded Textile¶

Recipe above(elstice one), try to combining different materials, hoping that the external textile would interact with the gelatin bioplastic. Pour in the mold like a "sandwich": starting with one layer of material, then placing the textile, and finally adding another layer of material.

main experimenter: ChungHan Lu¶

Gelatin // Glycerol // Embedded Textile¶

Recipe above(elstice one), was useing the textile as the main material(structure), gelatin bioplastic as a coating, resulting in a thin, transparent layer on the textile.

main experimenter: ChungHan Lu¶

Gelatine // Foam // Flexible // Dye Bath¶

Gelatine Foam Purple Using a dye bath instead of regular water and making a flexible gelatine mixture. Once cooled down, its whisked to create a foam.

main experimenter: Hala Amer¶

Gelatine // Foam // Cabbage Dye Bath // Strings¶

Piped out like cake Using a dye bath instead of regular water and making a flexible gelatine mixture. Once cooled down, its whisked to create a foam.

Using less Glycerol, 10g to 400ml of water.

Using a plastic bag, pouring it out strings in shapes.

main experimenter: Hala Amer¶

Gelatine // Foam // Cabbage Dye Bath¶

In a bunch Using a dye bath instead of regular water and making a flexible gelatine mixture. Once cooled down, its whisked to create a foam.

Using less Glycerol, 10g to 400ml of water.

Pouring out a large blob. Resembles memory foam and goes back to shape in a few minutes.

main experimenter: Hala Amer¶

Gelatine // Foam // Rigid¶

main experimenter: Julija Karas¶

Gelatine // Foam // Soap // Rigid¶

main experimenter: Julija Karas¶

Gelatine // Foam // Soap // Soft // Glycerol¶

main experimenter: Julija Karas¶

Gelatine // Foam // Soap // Soft // Glycerol¶

main experimenter: Julija Karas¶

Gelatine // Foam // Soap // Soft // Glycerol¶

main experimenter: Julija Karas¶

Gelatine // Foam // Charcoal¶

main experimenter: Julija Karas¶

Gelatine // Foam // Charcoal¶

main experimenter: Julija Karas¶

Gelatine // Foam // Charcoal¶

main experimenter: Julija Karas¶

Gelatine // Foam // Wool¶

main experimenter: Julija Karas¶

Gelatine // Foam // Wool // Charcoal¶

main experimenter: Julija Karas¶

Gelatine // Defraction¶

main experimenter: Julija Karas¶

Alginate // Dye Bath // Woven¶

Recipe above for extruded alginate with dye bath from beetroot added for pink and from cabbage for blue strings. Woven while strings are wet.

main experimenter: Ruby Lennox¶

Alginate // Dye Bath // Knit¶

Recipe above for extruded alginate with dye bath from beetroot added. Knit while wet.

main experimenter: Ruby Lennox¶

Alginate // Charcoal // Knit¶

Recipe above for extruded alginate with charcoal added. Knit into chain while wet.

main experimenter: Ruby Lennox¶

Alginate // Sawdust¶

Recipe above for alginate mixed about 10:8 alginate to sawdust. Moulded around a glass while wet.

main experimenter: Ruby Lennox¶

Alginate // Sawdust // Layering¶

Recipe above for alginate. Layers or alginate in different shapes covered in sawdust between each layer then sprayed with calcium chloride.

main experimenter: Ruby Lennox¶

Alginate // Molded¶

Recipe above for alginate painted in a very thin layer then sprayed with calcium chloride and reshaped while gelling.

main experimenter: Ruby Lennox¶

Alginate // Layering¶

Recipe above for alginate. Multiple layers poured over a bowl mould with calcium chloride spared in between each layer.

main experimenter: Ruby Lennox¶

Alginate // Foam // Charcoal¶

Alginate Black Foam Adding charcoal to the sodium alginate mixture. After allowing it to cool, whisking it to make foam.

main experimenter: Hala Amer & Julija Karas¶

Alginate // Foam // Spirulina¶

Alginate Foam with Spirulina Adding spirulina to the sodium alginate mixture. After allowing it to cool, whisking it to make foam. Once casted, a lasercut pattern is placed on top to get the shape.

main experimenter: Hala Amer & Julija Karas¶

Leather // Carrot // Sodium Alginate¶

Carrot Bioleather with sodium alginate Recipe above. Chopped carrots with sodium alginate mixture with glycerol for flexibility.

main experimenter: Hala Amer¶

Pine resin // Carnauba wax // Alcohol // Saw dust¶

Recipe above, but would like to keep more translucency, so added less filler.