This week’s group assignment was about choosing whatever we like and making something, and applying a digital fabrication process to it. So, we decided to make bio materials.

What is a biomaterial?

Is a material made from natural materials and designed to interact with biological elements.

Now, with that in mind, we got some inspiration from Materiom web site.

We pick 3 materials recipes from this page and make some adjustments:

• Conductive Gelatin Bioplastic Ge04
• Agar Ag03
• Starch Bioplastic

First one, bioresin

Following the steps to prepare the resin, we mix the elements and wait 24 h till it was cured.

To this material, later on, we apply some laser engraving, to see what happened.

Second, Conductive bioresin

This material was a bit different, it started as a normal bioresin but we add some salt, to make it conductive.

After the material was cured, we tested with DC current and some LED circuits.

Third, compost material

Ok, we made bioresin and conductive bioresin, next material, we would like to test a different kind. In Materiom we found a compostable material, and add some of our own recipe.

We swap oak sawdust for local wood sawdust available at FABLab; rooibos tea for yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis), and cornstarch for cassava starch.

The sequence suggested in the recipe was carried out; we obtained the mixture that was distributed in different containers that served as molds (one quadrangular, one spherical, one hexagonal and one circular) in different proportions.

This mixture remained at rest for two days, at room temperature inside the laboratory and in a place where the sun shone to evaporate as much liquid as possible and obtain the blocks.

Final conclusion

1. The result was diverse, but not as expected: the binder ingredient (cassava starch) was not successful (perhaps it will be necessary to try another quantity in the mixture), which caused the molds obtained to crumble (the hexagonal one) or break in the thicker ones. Only the ovoid mold showed a slightly better compaction.
2. Another change we made was the cooling of the mixtures to speed up the bioresin curing process.
3. Other thought, if we add more salt, the mixture will be richer and the conductivity capacity will increase.