Investigation of glass bonding and multi-layer deposition during filament-based glass 3D printing

Abstract

Additive manufacturing of glass is an emerging technology that is foreseen to have a big impact on glass fabrication for innovative solutions within research, as well as for industrial applications. One approach is 3D printing using glass filaments. This technique is similar to directed energy deposition (DED) of metal wires using laser melting, which is highly versatile in printing complex structures. For glass, however, the technique is still at an early stage of development. Printing complex multi-layer structures have been challenging, often resulting in poor control of print geometry, excessive evaporation, as well as low repeatability. In this work we present a systematic study of filament-based 3D printing of silica-glass using CO2-laser heating. The study focuses on the bonding width (wetting) during first-layer printing onto fused quartz substrates and during multi-layer printing, i.e., layer-to-layer bonding. The main printing parameters that have been investigated include printing speed, filament feed rate, and incident laser power. Bonding widths from 17 to 221 µm are achieved with 196 µm diameter fused silica filaments in single line printing. Using experimentally determined printing parameters for such filament, 3D printed objects consisting of more than 100 layers were subsequently demonstrated. The results presented here provide an approach in glass 3D printing, using the filament-based technique, enabling highly complex glass structures to be fabricated.

3D printing for flow biocatalysis

“…When it comes to the most common material in terms of all kinds of reactors, glass is already on the market for 3D printing, and maybe such materials could already start to replace some traditionally manufactured glass microstructures. [75][76][77] 5.2 Time-to-process Flow biocatalysis meets essential requirements of sustainable processes, like high reusability of the systems, time and costefficiency with low reaction times and small-scale equipment, and minimal waste production. 7 Incorporating additive manufacturing in the establishment of biocatalytic ow systems has a strong potential to enhance these aspects further.…”

“…When it comes to the most common material in terms of all kinds of reactors, glass is already on the market for 3D printing, and maybe such materials could already start to replace some traditionally manufactured glass microstructures. 75–77…”

Additive Manufacturing of Bioactive Glass and Its Polymer Composites as Bone Tissue Engineering Scaffolds: A Review

“…A desktop FDM 3D printer equipped with a high-temperature (~500 °C) extruder and build plate was used to additive manufacture pure phosphate glass models in FDM mode, with the layer resolution reduced to 100 μm [ 196 ]. In another work, Liu et al investigated the melt deposition of silica glass, a material typically requiring high temperatures (>1000 °C) to process [ 197 , 198 ]. As shown in Figure 8 F, the feedstock was a fused silica glass filament with a diameter of ~196 μm, while four CO 2 laser beams served as an energy source, focusing on the tip of the filament to locally melt the glass.…”

Digital glass forming of photonics

“…Another glass AM methodology utilizes a CO2 laser to locally heat solid silica glass feedstocks to deposit the material directly onto a substrate of the same material 10 – 12 While these AM systems have been used to produce small parts via layer-by-layer deposition, relatively little work has been done to explore the utilization of the material’s optical properties for waveguiding and photonic devices 4 , 8 – 11 This is despite the already robust infrastructure for the high-volume production of optical fiber feedstocks and the customizability of the feedstock geometry and chemistry.…”

“… – 12 While these AM systems have been used to produce small parts via layer-by-layer deposition, relatively little work has been done to explore the utilization of the material’s optical properties for waveguiding and photonic devices 4 , 8 – 11 This is despite the already robust infrastructure for the high-volume production of optical fiber feedstocks and the customizability of the feedstock geometry and chemistry. While there have been successful depositions of coreless silica fibers, the absence of a core limits the optical transmission 12 .…”