I was googling "polyethylene glycol miscible" because I was wondering if
lecithin is PEG miscible, when this came up: apparently PEG and citric acid
form a soft gel.
[
meetings.aps.org]
I don't know that a soft gel would be useful, but this:
[
www.ars.usda.gov]
is more promising.
Barone found that molecules containing hydrogen and oxygen--such as glycerol,
sorbitol or polyethylene glycol--reacted with citric acid to produce polymers
with citric acid groups in them. The materials formed are biodegradable
polyesters. Further study showed that the viscosity of the material can range
from the consistency of paint to a slow-to-dissolve, glasslike product,
depending on how the chemical reaction takes place.
I've emailed Dr. Barone a couple questions regarding his research.
(I should ask my cousin the food scientist if she can recommend any water
soluble support material candidates. Generally, if they're putting something
in food, it's water soluble, nontoxic, reasonably inexpensive, and easy to
source.)
-Sebastien
_______________________________________________
Developers mailing list
Developers@reprap.org
[
reprap.org]
