Investigation of 3D printing of children starch gummies with precise and special shape based on change of model parameters

Abstract

The practicability of using corn starch and erythritol as initial printing inks for manufacture to children printed products (with high accuracy and special shape) with addition of gelan gum (GG) was investigated. Materials properties and model parameters were applied to improve the printability and printing accuracy of special shape. The results showed that compared with the control group, all materials with hydrophilic colloid additions showed higher hardness, viscosity, rigidity and self-supporting ability. The results had shown that materials with higher GG additions possessed higher obvious viscosity and hardness, while printing inks with 1.5% GG concentration displayed best printing performance. Hydrophilic colloid additions attenuated the syneresis of samples. 3D printed objects using Ink-D (printing ink with GG addition of 1.5%) shown high printing precision with great self-supporting performance and smooth surface texture. Printing experiments revealed that model parameters (such as height and wall thickness) could significantly influence the printing precision and success rate of model with special shape.