Extremely Wet PVA

[dfrez 21]

I know this is a common topic, but I couldn't find anything similar to my exact issue. 

 

TL;DR: Got some PVA that was wet right out of sealed bag. Tried drying it out for almost two days. Still wet. 

 

I bought some Gizmodorks PVA and right out of the vacuum sealed bag it would pop and sizzle coming out of the nozzle. Could even see steam from all the moisture. I tried drying it for a few hours at 55*C, still popped and sizzled. 

 

I asked the seller for a replacement, hoping this roll had been exposed to moisture before being packaged. The second roll was just as wet right out of the bag. Frustrated, I tried drying again for a few hours, no help. I left both rolls in my dry box for awhile and just didn't bother using them. 

 

Feeling motivated, I decided to try drying them again. I couldn't see them going to waste. This time I recorded the weights at regular intervals so I could know when all the moisture had been removed. 

 

After drying both rolls at 55*C in my repurposed food dehydrator for 46hrs(!), one lost 0.38% of it's original weight and the other lost 0.56%. I stopped there since I didn't want to run the dehydrator for too long. But it looked like the moisture level was still dropping based on the measurements. 

 

Loaded both rolls into my printer, and they still popped and sizzled. 

 

I'm at a loss here, I would really hate to waste all this material, but I can not believe this material has absorbed this much moisture! Unless it was left out for a long time before being packaged. 

 

I'm also curious how much moisture can PVA absorb before it reaches full saturation? 

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by dfrez

[Smithy 1,144]

You could try a higher temperature. Not sure what UM suggests for drying their PVA, but I think it was something about 70°C.

 

UM PVA can be dried well over night, so maybe your brand is not the best one, but I don't know Gizmodorks.

[dfrez 21]

20 minutes ago, Smithy said:

You could try a higher temperature. Not sure what UM suggests for drying their PVA, but I think it was something about 70°C.

 

UM PVA can be dried well over night, so maybe your brand is not the best one, but I don't know Gizmodorks.

I thought about that, higher temp=faster moisture removal. But I wasn't sure if that would damage the PVA. I saw a guide from UM about drying it out on the buildplate and they said to do 55°C. However, they recommend drying for a measly 2 hours. 

 

I suppose I could drying it again. 🤷‍♂️ Just keep measuring the weight until it stabilizes.