Fluid gels: a new feedstock for high viscosity jetting

Suspensions of gel particles which are pourable or spoonable at room temperature can be created by shearing a gelling biopolymer through its gelation (thermal or ion mediated) rather than allowing quiescent cooling – thus the term ‘fluid gel’ may be used to describe the resulting material. As agar g...

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Main Authors: Holland, Sonia, Tuck, Christopher, Foster, Tim
Format: Article
Published: Springer 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50355/
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author Holland, Sonia
Tuck, Christopher
Foster, Tim
author_facet Holland, Sonia
Tuck, Christopher
Foster, Tim
author_sort Holland, Sonia
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Suspensions of gel particles which are pourable or spoonable at room temperature can be created by shearing a gelling biopolymer through its gelation (thermal or ion mediated) rather than allowing quiescent cooling – thus the term ‘fluid gel’ may be used to describe the resulting material. As agar gelation is thermoreversible this type of fluid gel is able to be heated again to melt agar gel particles to varying degrees then re-form a network quiescently upon cooling, whose strength depends on the temperature of re-heating, determining the amount of agar solubilised and subsequently able to partake in re-gelation. Using this principle, for the first time fluid gels have been applied to a high viscosity 3D printing process wherein the printing temperature (at the nozzle) is controllable. This allows the use of ambient temperature feedstocks and by altering the nozzle temperature, the internal nature (presence or absence of gel particles) and gel strength of printed droplets differs. If the nozzle prints at different temperatures for each layer a structure with modulated texture could be created.
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spelling nottingham-503552020-05-04T19:43:59Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50355/ Fluid gels: a new feedstock for high viscosity jetting Holland, Sonia Tuck, Christopher Foster, Tim Suspensions of gel particles which are pourable or spoonable at room temperature can be created by shearing a gelling biopolymer through its gelation (thermal or ion mediated) rather than allowing quiescent cooling – thus the term ‘fluid gel’ may be used to describe the resulting material. As agar gelation is thermoreversible this type of fluid gel is able to be heated again to melt agar gel particles to varying degrees then re-form a network quiescently upon cooling, whose strength depends on the temperature of re-heating, determining the amount of agar solubilised and subsequently able to partake in re-gelation. Using this principle, for the first time fluid gels have been applied to a high viscosity 3D printing process wherein the printing temperature (at the nozzle) is controllable. This allows the use of ambient temperature feedstocks and by altering the nozzle temperature, the internal nature (presence or absence of gel particles) and gel strength of printed droplets differs. If the nozzle prints at different temperatures for each layer a structure with modulated texture could be created. Springer 2018-06-30 Article PeerReviewed Holland, Sonia, Tuck, Christopher and Foster, Tim (2018) Fluid gels: a new feedstock for high viscosity jetting. Food Biophysics, 13 (2). pp. 175-185. ISSN 1557-1866 3D printing; Agar; Fluid gel https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11483-018-9523-x doi:10.1007/s11483-018-9523-x doi:10.1007/s11483-018-9523-x
spellingShingle 3D printing; Agar; Fluid gel
Holland, Sonia
Tuck, Christopher
Foster, Tim
Fluid gels: a new feedstock for high viscosity jetting
title Fluid gels: a new feedstock for high viscosity jetting
title_full Fluid gels: a new feedstock for high viscosity jetting
title_fullStr Fluid gels: a new feedstock for high viscosity jetting
title_full_unstemmed Fluid gels: a new feedstock for high viscosity jetting
title_short Fluid gels: a new feedstock for high viscosity jetting
title_sort fluid gels: a new feedstock for high viscosity jetting
topic 3D printing; Agar; Fluid gel
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50355/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50355/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50355/