GLASS SCULPTURE MANUFACTURING WITH 3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY

3D glass castle created by a 3D printer. (Photo: NeptunLab/KIT)

According to a new study, complex glass items such as miniature castle models and tiny donuts can now be fabricated using 3D printing technology. Researchers say that, one day, this technology could be used to produce smartphone camera lenses as well as components primarily made of glass.

Archaeologists note that humans have been using glass in manufacturing for thousands of years. Traditional fabrication requires furnaces and chemical processing. Recently, scientists have been investigating whether 3D printing can bypass these drawbacks.

A 3D printer can create objects from many diverse materials such as plastics, ceramics, metals, and even unusual materials like living cells. These devices work by depositing material layer by layer, similar to how conventional printers apply ink. Unlike regular printers, 3D printers can stack layers of flat material to build a three-dimensional object.

So far, according to researchers, the only way to shape glass via 3D printing still requires the use of lasers or heating the material to around 1,800°F (1,000°C). Researchers also note that regardless of the method used, the final products are often rough and textured, limiting their practical applications.

“People have thought that glass is a difficult material to work with in 3D printing,” said Bastian Rapp, lead author of the study and a mechanical engineer at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.

Honeycomb structure printed with liquid silica glass, being heated with a flame at about 1,500°F (approximately 800°C) (Photo: NeptunLab/KIT)

Today, scientists have developed a new technique that allows the fabrication of complex glass structures using just a standard 3D printer. The secret is a material called “liquid glass,” researchers say.

“This study has addressed a critical gap in understanding modern 3D printing technology,” Rapp told Live Science.

Scientists start with silica particles, a material used to make glass. These particles are only 40 nm in size, about one-billionth of a meter, and roughly 2,500 times smaller than the diameter of an average human hair.

These nano silica particles are dispersed in acrylic. Researchers can then use a standard 3D printer with this “liquid glass” to create complex objects. Ultraviolet light can be used to cure the material into a plastic similar to acrylic glass.

According to the study, when these plastic pieces are exposed to approximately 2,370°F (1,300°C), the plastic burns away, and the nano silica particles fuse together to form a smooth, transparent glass structure. With the aid of additives, this technology can also produce colored glass in shades of green, blue, or red.

“Glass is one of the oldest materials used by humans, and it is also a high-performance material. In some applications, glass is the only viable option,” Rapp said. “What our study accomplishes is connecting 21st-century manufacturing techniques with materials used for centuries.”

The commercial 3D printer used by the researchers can print details as small as a few millimeters. For comparison, an average human hair is about 100 microns thick.

This new method does not require chemical processing, and the fabricated products have smoothness and transparency suitable for camera lenses and other applications, the researchers added.

“You can imagine creating tiny lenses for smartphone cameras,” Rapp said. “You can also imagine making heat- and chemical-resistant coils from glass where chemical reactions can take place.”

This new technique can also help produce optical and photonic components for high-speed data transmission, Rapp added. (Photonic devices control light in the same way electrical circuits control electricity.) “You can think even bigger, such as 3D curved glass pieces used in architecture.”

“We are currently establishing a spin-off company* to commercialize this technology,” Rapp said. “We hope that in a few years, glass will be as widely used in 3D printing as plastics are today.”

Scientists documented their findings in the online journal Nature on April 19.

Source: livescience.com

*Note: A spin-off technology company is one that commercializes applied research results from scientists, jointly owned by the research institution and the inventor, and independently managed from the research institution.

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