During a recent introduction to FreeCAD workshop that I teach at The Edge , I got asked an awesome question that actually had me a little stumped: “Is Polyvinyl Alcohol the same as what is in PVA glue?”
You see, I was giving a little bit of a run down on the different materials that can be used in Fused Deposition 3D printers (aka RepRap and Makerbot). I was telling everyone about the wonders of PVA or Polyvinyl Alcohol. A water soluble plastic that is awesome for printing support structures or scaffolding. When you are done, just throw it in a tub of water and your scaffolding dissolves away - just leaving you with your desired object .
Answer
So is the above Polyvinyl Alcohol the same as what you find in PVA glue? Nope! It turns out PVA glue is actually PVAc, or Polyvinyl Acetate . You can however turn PVA glue into the cool plastic above by dissolving it in [Alcohol and treating it with sodium hydroxide](https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/469236/polyvinyl-alcohol- PVA). So, just when you thought PVA glue couldn’t be any more awesome and useful, you find out that it can be turned into an awesome material for 3D printers.
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