METHOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OF AN EDIBLE OBJECT USING SLS

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for the production of an edible object, comprising providing an edible powder composition suitable for selective laser sintering and an edible liquid, and subjecting said composition to selective laser sintering (SLS) to obtain the edible object. The invention can be used to produce food products using SLS, such as a pasta, a bakery product, a dry mix for beverage, an instant soup or a confectionary product, among others.

Claims

1. Method for the production of an edible object, comprising providing an edible powder composition suitable for selective laser sintering and an edible liquid, and subjecting said composition to a selective laser sintering (SLS) procedure to obtain the edible object, wherein said SLS procedure comprises a laser irradiation step, and wherein the edible liquid is provided in the form of droplets on the edible powder composition before subjecting it to the laser irradiation step of the SLS procedure.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the edible liquid comprises water, an oil, a liquefied fat or an alcohol.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the edible powder composition does not comprise components that become flowable under the selective laser sintering conditions.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mean droplets volume is less than 0.1 mL, preferably 1 pL-0.1 mL, more preferably 5 pL-0.01 mL.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the edible liquid is provided in the amount of at least 1 wt. % relative to the total weight of the powder composition and the liquid, preferably in the range 5-80 wt. %.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the edible powder composition comprises a structural component, which is non-melting at the temperatures below 200° C.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the edible liquid is applied to the edible powder composition by inkjet printing.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the composition comprises at least 10 wt. % of the structural component based on the total weight of the composition.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein the structural component comprises starch or semolina.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the edible powder composition is a free-flowing powder.

11. A food product comprising the edible object obtainable by the method according to claim 1.

12. The food product according to claim 11, being a pasta, a bakery product, a dry mix for beverage, an instant soup or a confectionary product.

Description

EXAMPLES

[0028] Materials used: wheat flour (Ibis, Meneba, NL), polydextrose (Litesse 2, Danisco), palm oil powder (fully hydrogenated palm oil powder Admul PO58, Kerry), water (miliQ).

Example 1

[0029] The printability by SLS was studied of powders varying in composition. Fixed SLS settings were used: Line distance 0.1 mm; Writing speed 1250 mm/sec; Laser power 50%. Layer height 0.5 mm, 2 layers were printed. Starting with two powders: durum wheat semolina and soft wheat flour, both powders as such were not printable: the lasering does not result in consolidation at all. The powder becomes brown and eventually burnt because of thermal heating, but the powder particles are not sintered together as they do not melt.

[0030] When the two powders were combined with a binder mixture composed of 90 wt. % polydextrose and 10 wt. % palm oil powder, consolidation could be obtained. At 40 wt. % binder in the powder, a fragile object was obtained, at 50 wt. % binder the object was strong and at 60 wt. % binder even stronger.

[0031] In an experiment in accordance with the invention, water was applied on the powder just before the laser treatment, to improve powder particles to fuse together and hence improve consolidation. Using an air-brush water was sprayed on the powder just before laser treatment. It was found that this procedure substantially improved the consolidation of the powder. Even the powder without any binder was consolidated. The dry object had a mechanical strength comparable to the powder with 50 wt. % binder. Another advantage of this method is that the texture of the object was improved as it became less tough and more crunchy.

Example 2

[0032] In this example water was applied to the edible compositions (with and without polydextrose used as a binder) by means of inkjet printer Pico XMOD MV100 using the powder bed printing (PBP) technology, which was followed by the SLS. Settings for PBP were as follows: pressure 0.15 bar, move speed 2000 mm/s, print speed 1000 mm/s, #droplets 5 dr/mm, pulse time 1, pulse length 1000 us, shape 40×20 mm/s, #lines 2 or 4 lines/mm. For SLS use was made of EOSint P380 (ex 3T RPD Ltd, UK) equipped with a 50W CO.sub.2 CW laser (@100% power), wavelength 10.6 μm. The power can be modulated based on the pattern to be printed. SLS settings were used: Line distance 0.1 mm/s; Writing speed 750-1250 mm/sec; Laser power 50-80%.

[0033] The amount of water applied by PBP was 9 wt. % on dry base (2 lines/mm) or 14 wt. % on dry base (4 lines/mm). The water amount is calculated based on the measured amount of water applied and the weight of the object.

[0034] The following protocol was followed to print objects of 40×20 mm.

[0035] Add powder to the z-stage by hand using a sieve (bottom powder layer must be 2 mm high);

[0036] Move the z-stage underneath the roller to equalize the powder (225 rpm, 300 mm/min);

[0037] Move the z-stage underneath the Pico XMOD MV100 printing head and start printing milli-Q water;

[0038] Move the z-stage to home position and remove the z-stage form the PBP set-up and place into the SLS EOS;

[0039] Start printing using the laser;

[0040] Place the z-stage back into the PBP set-up and lower the z-stage 0.5 mm;

[0041] Apply a new powder layer to the z-stage by hand using a sieve and move the z-stage underneath the roller to equalize the powder (225 rpm, 300 mm/min);

[0042] Move the z-stage underneath the Pico XMOD MV100 printing head and start printing milli-Q water;

[0043] Move the z-stage to home position and remove the z-stage from the PBP set-up and place into the SLS EOS;

[0044] Start printing using the laser;

[0045] Carefully remove the printed object by using a flat scoop and carefully remove the remaining powder using a brush.

[0046] The SLS printed objects were dried in a stove.

[0047] The results are presented in Table 1.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 100% wheat flour 50% laser power 80% laser power 80% laser power 1250 mm/sec 1250 mm/sec 750 mm/sec No water Not consolidated; Not consolidated; — black/brown black/brown specks specks Water 9 wt. % Consolidated; no Consolidated; no — burned spots burned spots Water 16 wt. % Consolidated; no Consolidated; no Consolidated; no burned spots burned spots burned spots

[0048] The results show that applying water to wheat flour facilitates consolidation during SLS without the need for a binder material. Mechanical strength is higher than for a composition comprising 50% flour and 50% binder (90% polydextrose, 10% palm oil powder). The printed objects with water show limited browning, no burning, no smoke formed and no black/brown specks. Some warping occurs which needs optimization.

Example 3

[0049] The procedure of Example 2 was followed for the compositions comprising 50 wt. % wheat flour and 50 wt. % binder (90% polydextrose and 10% palm oil powder). The results are shown in Table 2.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 50 wt. % wheat flour, 50 wt. % binder 50% laser power 1250 mm/sec 80% 80% laser speed 1250 mm/sec 750 mm/sec No water Consolidated; Consolidated — browning browning Water 9 wt. % Consolidated; no Consolidated; no Consolidated, browning browning limited browning Water 16 wt. % Improved Improved Improved consolidation; no consolidation; no consolidation; browning browning limited browning

[0050] This examples shows that the use of the binder improves consolidation and prevents/limits burning. However, the measured mechanical strength of the resulting objects was lower than that of Example 2.

Example 4

Mechanical Strength Measurement

[0051] The dried objects prepared in Example 2 and 3 were subjected to the measurement of mechanical strength by SMS Texture Analyzer 3 point bending test (TA-TX3 Stable Microsystems Ltd., probe A/3PB three point bending rig). The force is measured when the sample breaks. The measurement procedure is as follows.

[0052] Equipment: TA.XT plus

[0053] Attach: [0054] 30 kg load cell [0055] Probe A/3PB three point bending rig [0056] Holder and determine the distance (2 cm, measured at the bottom of the holder)

[0057] TA settings: [0058] Pre-test speed: 1 mm/s [0059] Test speed: 1 mm/s [0060] Post-test speed: 10 mm/s [0061] Target mode: Distance [0062] Distance: 6 mm [0063] Trigger type: auto (Force) [0064] Trigger force: 0.49N [0065] Break mode: off [0066] Stop plot at: Target distance [0067] Tare mode: auto [0068] Advanced options: on

[0069] Calibrate the force using a 2 kg weight

[0070] Calibrate the height with a 45 mm return distance

[0071] Place the printed object central on the holder underneath the probe

[0072] Run the test

[0073] Determine the maximum force (N).

[0074] The results are presented in Table 3.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 100% flour 0% 75% flour 25% 50% flour 50% binder binder binder No water NA* NA* 0.72 N Water 9 wt. % 1.99 N 2.48 N 1.04 N Water 16 6.77 N 1.04 N 2.62 N wt. % *Could not be measured as the sample was not consolidated or too fragile/broken during preparation

[0075] It can be seen that the sample without the binder has a higher mechanical strength than the sample with 50% of the binder present.