#thermoplastics

[f3arful-owo]

fih moments before disaster

his skin(paint) peeled off :(

[silvericedragon]

The gauntlets for my Guild Wars 2 cosplay are done, other than sanding and painting! I still intend to finish this costume lol, it's just taking me extra time because life. All pieces are made of worbla over foam or cardboard, or by itself. The gloves are made from the same fabric (hand-dyed by me) as the rest of the costume. Everything is fully articulated to move with my hand and arm. The only armor piece I have left is the upper arm. Then it's just wiring, sanding, painting, and styling the wig! Woo! I'm pretty excited for this cosplay. Not only is it the most complex and difficult costume I've built, but it has also been with me through some tough times. At some point, I'll have to put all the pieces on and share some pictures :-)

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Simple chemistry overcomes long-standing barriers to recycling about a quarter of today's plastics

Despite research and policy efforts, recycling initiatives have skidded on more complex materials like tires and mattresses, filling dumps and natural land across the country.

Now, Northwestern University researchers have used simple chemistry to address long- standing barriers associated with recycling about a quarter of today's plastics—materials that Northwestern's John Torkelson say hold a tremendous amount of embedded energy.

Torkelson, a professor of chemical and biological engineering and of materials science and engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern, will present on seven novel techniques to transform tires and other similar thermoset polymers into recyclable materials at the American Physical Society (APS) on March 14. His lab's breakthrough research builds on excitement in the sustainability field and will help mitigate fires, pollution and the lost economic value associated with synthetic polymer waste.

"This is our case of looking at a class of materials that were considered hopeless in terms of recycling," Torkelson said. "And using one- or two-step chemistry to transform them into recyclable material with full recovery of properties to see how that can really help address some major issues with regard to sustainability."

Read more.

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

Thermoplastics - The Basics - Workshop

Learn the basics of working with Thermoplastics at MatchBOX Makerspace - Lafayette IN Hosted by ...And Sewing Is Half The Battle

I'll be teaching a hands-on Intro to Thermoplastics workshop at MatchBOX Makerspace in Lafayette, IN on July 26! Registration includes thermoplastics samples and a project to do at the workshop. Spots are limited, so sign up early if you'd like to attend!

[byrdierose]

Girl help I’m obsessed (skittle for scale

[fabrickind]

Some preliminary thoughts on Thibra:

It’s a really cool material for certain applications, but not what I expected. It’s weird to work with for me. Not intuitive the way Worbla was the first time I picked it up.

It gets stress lines very easily, where a flat piece bends out of shape easily and then that creates visible stress lines. It will then tend to bend in that area in the future. Probably less of an issue once it is heated and formed onto something.

It’s very elastic when heated. Sculpting with Worbla to me feels like sculpting with cookie dough. It’s very intuitive, and works exactly how I expected. Thibra, by contrast, is more like working with a weird mixture of bubble gum, silly putty, and fondant. It has a lot of the elasticity of something like bubble gum, and can get very thing while stretched. It’s also very sticky. Once it starts to cool, it’s more like fondant. (All these food comparisons!) The more you heat it, the stickier it gets, and it’s hard to keep it in that perfect window where it is malleable but won’t stick to everything in sight.

Heating takes some getting used to. It seems to have a short working window, but a very long window before it is fully cool. This means that you need to heat it to just the right temperature before working with it, do your work quickly, reheating as needed, and then leave it there for a longer time than you would expect before it is cool enough to move without getting deformed. Of course, during this period, it’s not soft enough to actually do anything with, but it’s still soft enough that it needs support under it or else it will lose its shape. 

It takes a bit to initially heat it, as well. Heat transfer seems low, in that if you have a piece much thicker than the actual sheet (if you were making ‘snakes’ for the sake of detailing or using it like a clay), the outside overheats before the inside becomes malleable, so it takes a lot of messing around with to get it to be workable. I’d recommend keeping any ‘snakes’ smaller than 1/4″ in diameter, since even that small becomes difficult to work with. 

Takes a bit of coaxing to initially form and drape over an object, but once it goes, it all goes at once. It’s like it can hold its shape until you poke at it a bit, and then it suddenly loses that integrity and collapses down onto the object you are forming over.

Suuuuuuuuper smooth. I love how smooth it remains. I haven’t had too many issues with fingerprints in my quick experiments, but it does pick up fingernail marks very easy. It’s very soft when heated. Much softer than Worbla. I can see it working really well for armor that needs to stay smooth or for small detailing where you want to keep the detailing without having to fill and sand. 

So far, I’d recommend it, but with the caveat that it should primarily be used for forming over other things, since it is very soft. If it is used as a clay, it should be kept to small pieces for decorating larger pieces, and not as a clay in and of itself (like Worbla can be used). Would likely require a structural layer underneath like Worbla does, since it seems to be even less strong. Takes fine detailing very well.

It’s 100% not going to work for what I wanted it for, but I might be able to use it to heat form over something that I’ve sculpted and still use it for the same piece. 

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Polyurethane is widely used in daily life, so eco-friendly synthesis boosts utilization

Senior Researcher Lim Sang-gyu, leading a team of researchers at the Department of Energy Convergence Research, DGIST, achieved a remarkable milestone with the development of an eco-friendly thermoplastic polyurethane boasting a staggering biocarbon content of 97%. This groundbreaking technology, created in collaboration with Jung Jae-hoon from the New Product Development Team and Jeon Cho-hyun from the New Business Planning Team at the Korea Textile Development Institute (KTDI), holds immense significance as it presents a sustainable alternative to conventional petroleum-based thermoplastic polyurethanes. Thermoplastic polyurethane is a remarkable material renowned for its outstanding mechanical properties, including abrasion resistance, resilience, tensile strength, and tear strength. Its versatility makes it widely used in various life and industrial applications such as industrial sheets, screen protection films, cases, footwear, artificial leather, and apparel materials.

Read more.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Researchers have developed an upcycling approach that adds value to discarded plastics for reuse in additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. The readily adoptable, scalable method introduces a closed-loop strategy that could globally reduce plastic waste and cut carbon emissions tied to plastic production.

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an upcycling approach that adds value to discarded plastics for reuse in additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. The readily adoptable, scalable method introduces a closed-loop strategy that could globally reduce plastic waste and cut carbon emissions tied to plastic production.

Results published in Science Advances detail the simple process for upcycling a commodity plastic into a more robust material compatible with industry 3D-printing methods.

The team upgraded acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS, a popular thermoplastic found in everyday objects ranging from auto parts to tennis balls to LEGO blocks. ABS is a popular feedstock for fused filament fabrication, or FFF, one of the most widely used 3D-printing methods. The upcycled version boasts enhanced strength, toughness and chemical resistance, making it attractive for FFF to meet new and higher performance applications not achievable with standard ABS.

Polymer upcycling plays an important role in addressing the growing challenge of global plastic waste accumulation. Approximately 400 million tons of plastic waste is generated each year, largely as single-use items that end up in landfills or the environment. Globally, less than 10% of plastic waste is recycled.

Read more.