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DESIGN, ASSEMBLY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF COMPOSITE ...

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B. Aqueous Colloidal Fugitive Starch Ink<br />

An aqueous colloidal fugitive ink is developed based on a polysaccharide, i.e. rice<br />

starch powder. This ink is a rice starch particle filled Pluronic F-127 hydrogel. The main<br />

purpose of this study is to find an alternative to carbon black ink that allows for easy<br />

thermal removal at a lower temperature and compatible processing with Ni and other<br />

potential metal inks.<br />

Materials. A rice starch powder (S7260-500g, SigmaAldrich, St. Louis, MO) is<br />

used as the colloidal phase, ABA block polymer Pluronic F-127 (P2443-1KG,<br />

SigmaAldrich, St. Louis, MO) is used to form a hydrogel, acrylic polymer latex (Elotex<br />

Titan 8100, National Starch. & Chemical, Bridgewater, NJ, USA) is used to assist<br />

dispersing rice starch powder in water, formaldehyde 10% by weight solution<br />

(Sciencelab, Houston, Texas) is used as an antifungal agent. DI water has a nominal<br />

conductivity 5×10 -4 (ohm·cm) -1 .<br />

Procedure. Direct blending the following materials yields starch ink: 1) DI water<br />

12.5 g 2) Starch powder 13.5 g, 3) TITAN 8100 1.5 g, 4) Pluronic F-127 3.0 g, and 5)<br />

formaldehyde 0.5 g. This ink may be used in Robocasting.<br />

Results. Compared to carbon black ink, this starch ink has the advantages of<br />

easier thermal removal and less ash content. But its major flaws include: 1) wet starch<br />

powder swells upon heating, and 2) high shrinkage and cracking during drying in air due<br />

to low gel strength, Figure A.2a. This starch ink has been used for fabrication of Ni<br />

structures that have long spanning features Figure A.2b. The removal of this starch ink in<br />

an atmosphere of a 50% CO2 and 50% H2 mixture.<br />

234

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