59 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
59 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
|
|
||
|
# Hands-On Thermoplastic
|
||
|
|
||
|
## Not too HOT to handle!
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
### How does it work?
|
||
|
|
||
|
* With just a little warmth, this material becomes putty in your hands, to be shaped as you wish.
|
||
|
* Let it cool down & it becomes tough and rigid, holding its shape.
|
||
|
* Warm it back up to try again!
|
||
|
|
||
|
----
|
||
|
|
||
|
### What is it?
|
||
|
|
||
|
#### Polymers
|
||
|
|
||
|
* Its generic name is *poly(caprolactone)*, but we just call it **PCL** for short.
|
||
|
* It is made out of long chains of small molecules all hooked together.
|
||
|
* We call this type of material a **polymer**.
|
||
|
* Manufactured polymers are often called by another name: **Plastics.**
|
||
|
|
||
|
----
|
||
|
|
||
|
#### Thermoplastics
|
||
|
|
||
|
* Plastics that can be shaped when warm but which become less flexible at cooler temperatures are called **thermoplastics**.
|
||
|
* It is sold under a number of different trade names.
|
||
|
* It is a close relative to thermoplastics used in a very common type of 3D printer ("fused-deposition modelling").
|
||
|
|
||
|
----
|
||
|
|
||
|
### Where do we find other polymers?
|
||
|
|
||
|
#### 3D Printing
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
* There is one big difference between PCL and most 3D printing plastics: The working temperature for those plastics (like ABS and PLA) *are* too hot to handle--you could easily get burned if you tried to shape them by hand!
|
||
|
* PCL is a great way to get a real feel for how these printers work.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In essence **you** become the 3D printer with PCL!
|
||
|
|
||
|
* **ABS** = acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer
|
||
|
* **PLA** = poly(lactic acid)
|
||
|
|
||
|
----
|
||
|
|
||
|
#### Natural polymers
|
||
|
|
||
|
Living things contain a lot of polymers too:
|
||
|
|
||
|
* **Proteins**
|
||
|
* **DNA**
|
||
|
* **carbohydrates**
|
||
|
|
||
|
are all naturally occurying types of polymers.
|
||
|
|