Plastination of organic specimens?

[Ceangal]

I've been looking more and more into plastinating organic specimens lately. Specifically, mushroom fruiting bodies. There isn't much in the way of resources online for the process so I've been trying to piece it together based on a few different resources. By far, the most helpful resource has been (pdf), which details the process specifically for mushroom fruiting bodies. I was looking into a similar method, except replacing the cold acetone bath dehydration method with graded ethanol dehydration - exactly the same as the dehydration method used to preserve specimens for paraffin impregnation in histology - and instead of using silicone as an impregnating agent, using epoxy resin instead.

The theoretical process:

Step 1: Freeze specimens prior to dehydration.

Step 2: Dehydrate specimens by bathing in graded concentrations of ethanol; 30%, 50%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%, 100%, and an additional bath in 100%, all about two hours each.

Step 3: Allow specimen to equilibrate in room-temperature bath of 100% acetone (this step I'm not too clear on, all resources I've read seem to just suggest the acetone will simply replace the ethanol after the acetone bath, but that doesn't seem quite right.)

Step 4: Gently dry and place in vacuum chamber in bath of impregnating agent (in this case resin, minus the catalyst). As the pressure in the vacuum is increased, the acetone will bubble and boil out of the specimen while the resin fills the void, literally impregnating the cells with polymer.

Step 5: After acetone is cleared out completely, wipe off excess resin, paint or spray catalyst on to impregnated specimen, and wrap in plastic wrap, adding more catalyst as needed to keep the curing process going.

Does my assessment of the process seem correct? Does it seem like a doable project? It's a very long-shot, but I'd love to be able to preserve ephemeral mushrooms permanently without the risk of degradation.

[mangozac]

I think you're really pushing the limits of knowledge of the majority of us here now! I really how no idea how feasible any of this is.

What type of resin are you planning to use? I'm assuming polyester?

[Fleafa]

Wowzer. Cool project and totally out of our comfort zone!
Definitely not a job for PU resin, being a 1:1 ratio. PE or epoxy may work, both of which few of us have experience using. Acetone melts cured resin, so not sure of the effect it will have on the uncured resin. Interested to see how it goes.

[follox]

[Ceangal]

Haha I'm sorry for dumping this on you. I figured I'd give it a shot in the dark, maybe one of you resin pros might have thoughts on it.

As for the acetone melting epoxy, the idea is that the acetone literally boils under a vacuum while the resin does not. I'm not sure of the science behind it, because I'm not completely familiar with the science of how things work under a vacuum, but all the sources I pulled state the same process; immerse it in your resin, watch the bubbles escape through a vacuum, and once no more bubbles have arisen, your acetone is fully evaporated.

That's the idea anyway...

[mangozac]

Yeah I think the acetone concept is fine: as you say, the idea is that it's boiling out before the resin reaction. What I'm unsure about is the addition of catalyst afterwards: surely the catalyst needs to be well mixed with the resin?

[Ceangal]

[Fleafa]

Polyester resin will cure if the catalyst vapor is present, to the point that the catalyst bottles are wax-sealed for shipping to prevent a big lump of hard PE turning up!

[mangozac]

Without any experience working with polyester resins I really can't advise any further

[follox]

I didn't think I'd be coming to this thread - I use resin mainly (at the moment, I'm easily distracted by new ideas) to make tiny snake pendants with shed skin enclosed in transparent centre pieces.

Just today I was asked if I could preserve an entire (very tiny baby) snake in resin.

This is WAY beyond my experience - but not out of my comfort zone. I wouldn't preserve a pet of my own but find the process fascinating and not at all grim. But Ceangal - I wonder if you know anything about specimen preservation prior to resin encapsulation? I (think?!) this thread is about saturating the specimen with resin as a means of preservation but I have neither the knowledge or the facilities to do so (I don't use vacuum at all - yet) - but I thought of this thread right away when I was asked.

I struggle to retain colour in just flowers embedded in resin and I've seen preserved reptiles in jars lose their colour too

If anyone knows anything about the preservation of animals and subsequent resin encapsulation I would LOVE to hear it - it might not be something I can do but I'd like to find out!