Don’t know if you ever tried but most standard filaments and even print leftovers seem to really dislike alcohols.
I wanted to use printed plastic parts as ‘floaters’ in a solution of two liquids with different densities.
Did not work as planned but also came with some unexpected things.
I use PLA, PETG and ABS.
For the first it seems obvious that prolonged exposure to alcohol would do no good but neither PETG nor ABS should be affected.
At least not more than maybe leeching out some color.
After forgetting about my failed experiment for about two weeks I was stunned to see that there was only some slimy goo at the bottom of my jar.
With a few tiny pieces left but most of the plastic vanished.
I can say that most of the pieces seem to come from the PETG.
Let’s say it would just be the PLA that disappears the best.
Most people use it and create poop and leftovers.
I used methanol but ethanol should work in similar ways I guess.
Now >
Most alcohols start o boil around 70ºC or lower.
And a simple distillation apparatus is something anyone could whack up these days.
But what would remain once the alcohol is recycled?
What I got after just letting the alcohol evaporate off for a few days was a hard and very brittle mess.
The majority came from PLA but it did not feel or behave like any normal plastic.
Did anyone already try some longer time test to see what common things might dissolve our plastics even if they shouldn’t be able to?