Three-dimensional printing of transparent fused silica glass

Abstract

Glass is one of the most important high-performance materials used for scientific research, in industry and in society, mainly owing to its unmatched optical transparency, outstanding mechanical, chemical and thermal resistance as well as its thermal and electrical insulating properties. However, glasses and especially high-purity glasses such as fused silica glass are notoriously difficult to shape, requiring high-temperature melting and casting processes for macroscopic objects or hazardous chemicals for microscopic features. These drawbacks have made glasses inaccessible to modern manufacturing technologies such as three-dimensional printing (3D printing). Using a casting nanocomposite, here we create transparent fused silica glass components using stereolithography 3D printers at resolutions of a few tens of micrometres. The process uses a photocurable silica nanocomposite that is 3D printed and converted to high-quality fused silica glass via heat treatment. The printed fused silica glass is non-porous, with the optical transparency of commercial fused silica glass, and has a smooth surface with a roughness of a few nanometres. By doping with metal salts, coloured glasses can be created. This work widens the choice of materials for 3D printing, enabling the creation of arbitrary macro- and microstructures in fused silica glass for many applications in both industry and academia.

3D Shape Reconstruction of 3D Printed Transparent Microscopic Objects from Multiple Photographic Images Using Ultraviolet Illumination

“…By changing the imaging lens, this system could be applicable to macro- and micro-scale models. In addition, transparent 3D printed models made from glass as well as polymer [20,21] could be observed using this method. Therefore, this method could be an inexpensive and useful tool for a 3D scanner and a way to inspect the appearance of transparent 3D objects without the need for time-consuming pre- and post-processing techniques.…”

High‐Performance Materials for 3D Printing in Chemical Synthesis Applications

“…Many attempts like selective laser sintering or melting or inkjet printing of glass powders had been proposed but led to white, porous, and nontransparent glass components. [33] The nanocomposites consist of amorphous silica nanoparticles dispersed in a photocurable binder matrix. [31] An alternative approach used manually fed glass fibers which were molten using a laser beam.…”

“…[32] However, both processes result in glass parts with very coarse structures which cannot be used to 3D print chemical reactors or high-resolution microfluidic chips for flow-through synthesis (see Table 1). [33] Alternative direct glass printing processes such as direct ink writing of colloidal silica suspensions and SL printing of photocurable sol-gel precursors (mixture of a photocurable silane and tetraethylorthosilicate) have also been described (see Figure 1c,d). Besides direct printing of glass, indirect printing processes have evolved.…”

“…Using microstereolithography and lithography, fused silica glass can be structured at resolutions of a few micrometers and a surface roughness of a few nanometers (see Figure 1b). [33] Copyright 2017, Springer. They show the same high optical transparency in the UV, visible, and infrared region, the same mechanical strength, and the same thermal and chemical resistance like commercial fused silica glass.…”

A storey of buildings and materials

“…For example, curved-glass facades are now relatively common, as are buildings with kinetic facades that can respond to changes in their environment. With an increasing number of materials that can be 3D printed -transparent glass 9 and high-performance steels 10 are very recent additions -the creativity of designers can be truly unleashed. The users' experience is now centre stage, with the advent of garments and furniture that can adapt to the body to enhance comfort and performance 3 .…”