Jan 1, 2015 | By Simon
When it comes to squid, more people probably jump to a mental image of a steaming bowl of fresh calamari rather than an extruder squeezing hot plastic, but for group of researchers, the latter might be true.
In a recent project at Penn State University, researchers focused their efforts on exploring the protein complex that exists in squid ring teeth (SRT). The teeth are a naturally-made thermoplastic material with similar properties to synthetic man-made plastics created using crude oil and environmentally-depleting manufacturing techniques.
Squid ring teeth proteins can be mixed across species to engineer the required properties.
Credit: Penn State
"Most of the companies looking into this type of material have focused on synthetic plastics," said Melik C. Demirel, a professor of engineering science and mechanics at Penn State. "Synthetic plastics are not rapidly deployable for field applications, and more importantly, they are not eco-friendly."
A thermoplastic made of squid protein can be stretched up to 300%.
Credit: Penn State
While the naturally-made material would be ideal for using in place of synthetic materials and processes including pellets and filament for 3D printing, sourcing the material directly from squid isn't feasible due to its large amount of effort and large quantity of required squid.
Rather than harvesting squid for the production of naturally-occurring thermoplastic, the researchers have turned their efforts towards reverse engineering the chemical and physical properties of the natural thermoplastic with the goal of creating a new and similar synthetic material.
"We have the genetic sequence for six squid collected around the world, but we started with the European common squid," added Demirel.
Melik Demirel, professor of engineering science and mechanics.
Credit: Penn State
In order to reverse engineer the thermoplastic, Demirel and his team had to look at the genetic sequence for the protein complex molecule and test a variety of proteins that could be synthesized from the complex.
To manufacture and test the synthetic SRT molecule, the researchers inserted SRT protein genes into E. coli so that the bacteria could produce plastic molecules as a part of its normal activity. Once the molecules were produced, the resulting thermoplastic was removed.
In addition to being a more eco-friendly option for plastic-based manufacturing, this particular SRT thermoplastic can be heated, extruded or molded similar to other synthetic plastics including those commonly used in 3D printers. Additionally, the plastic can also be dissolved in a solvent and used for film casting.
As far as further tweaking the material for a variety of other applications, the thermoplastic is also able to be adjusted for a variety of other requirements for specific manufacturing purposes, including those in the medical and cosmetic industries.
"Native and recombinant thermoplastic squid proteins exhibit reversible solid to melt phase transition, enabling them to be thermally shaped into 3D geometries such as fibers, colloids, and thin films," states the published paper, which appeared in a recent issue of Advanced Functional Materials. "Direct extraction or recombinant expression of protein based thermoplastics opens up new avenues for materials fabrication and synthesis, which will eventually be competitive with the high-end synthetic oil based plastics."
The project joins others that are looking to bring biomimicry into the manufacturing space, both for 3D printing and for other technologies.
"The next generation of materials will be governed by molecular composition -- sequence, structure and properties," added Demirel.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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Ok we will totally ignore PLA
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