Scientists develop method of 3D printing glass objects with "unique optical, electrical, and chemical properties"
Unlike conventional glass 3D printing and post-processing, which involves exposing parts to temperatures of 1,000 °C or more, the scientists’ method involves layering a custom, highly-filled ink, that’s curable at 250°C. Due to the accessibility of their material’s ingredients and the simplicity of their process, the team believes it could “facilitate the widespread production of glass objects” with unique characteristics.
“We have shown a modular system that can be tuned to print a wide variety of inorganic glasses with embedded functional nanomaterials (dielectric, metallic, and optical),” explain the scientists in their recently published paper. “We envision this versatile materials platform, when combined with multi-material additive manufacturing, will enable the fabrication of a wide variety of robust microsystems.”