Topic Tag: potato

In general, our approach to work with potato peels is pretty low-tech with only two ingredients in the material mix, hence the outcome material can’t be called really durable. So we thought that a great application for it would be a product with a short life span. Since we don’t like single-use plastic, we decided to make a biodegradable alternative to a styrofoam take-away container. The mould for the container is also a learning tool itself. It is so far the most complex mould we have for biomaterials. By increasing the complexity we aimed to push further the material boundaries and learn more about its properties. If you are curious about the process of making a heatable mould, you can check out this topic - Our actual heat pressing process is still experimental, and so far the most successful approach is this: Ingredients: 70% of peels mixed with 30% of water We take 125g of peel powder and 53g of water to make a container 230 x 150 x 31 mm, with 1.5 mm wall thickness Temperature: The mold is heated up to 90°C. The settings may vary here. Normally, when we work at a lower temperature we cook it for a longer time and vice versa. Check the google doc below for more examples. Mould release: The material is pretty sticky when it comes to the heat, so we need to apply some mould release like oil or other lubricants first. More info on what we tried so far here. Pressure: 10 min with 7 metric tons. If the pressure is too low, the surface appears weaker with lots of tiny cracks. Taking out: It’s better to release the pressure slowly, otherwise the steam will come out too fast and might damage the surface. We also tried different ways to get the container out of the mould in case it gets a little stuck. For example wooden or plastic scrapers or blowing air from a compressor.