
True3DGlass: A Revolution in Glass Processing - wallflower
https://www.pkm.kit.edu/english/true3dglass.php
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will_walker
The process depicted in the video is a variant of Stereolithography a process
by which photopolymer is solidified by exposure to directed UV light. The
video depicts the authors using a commercial 3D printer created by Digital Wax
Systems. Reading the paper, it appears that they mixed in amorphous silica to
the resin and ran the printer successfully. Few details are given on their
test rig.

This approach has been applied successfully to create ceramics in the past,
and doesn't seem particularly novel to me. Companies such as ADMATEK are
already commercializing this technology.

Weaknesses of this approach are that the end part needs high temperature
sintering to remove the photopolymer from the part, and will not yield the
same material properties as monolithic glass. Significant shrinkage can be
expected and the sintering process means that you are limited in the thickness
of the parts that can be designed.

All in all, this is a nice note, but isn't fundamentally introducing a
revolution in the 3D printing space.

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fudged71
I disagree with your conclusion.

Post-process sintering is showing advantages across several materials. You'll
see that Markforged and Desktop metal have introduced integrated processes to
control shrinkage in the final parts. You mentioned ADMATEK as well.

The ability to prototype/produce glass parts within an office environment
without needing safety equipment is a major improvement!

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azinman2
It's not the first.. . Neri Oxman's group at MIT did it in 2015:
[https://www.dezeen.com/2015/08/26/neri-oxman-3d-printing-
tra...](https://www.dezeen.com/2015/08/26/neri-oxman-3d-printing-transparent-
glass-sculptural-structures-mediated-matter-mit-media-lab/)

~~~
lorenzhs
This paper cites that one in its first paragraph:

" _Until now, only two ways to shape glass in a 3D printing process have been
demonstrated: a fused deposition moulding approach in which soda lime glass is
heated to around 1,000 °C and a manual wire feeding approach in which a glass
filament is melted using a laser beam [6,7,8]. In both cases, coarse
structures with high surface roughness are obtained._ "

The paper you mention is reference number 6. This new paper apparently
significantly improves upon resolution and quality. The press release is a bit
confusingly worded, referring to "extremely small and complex structures" made
of glass. Those haven't been 3D-printed before.

The paper (probably requires a Nature subscription):
[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v544/n7650/abs/nature22...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v544/n7650/abs/nature22061.html)

~~~
azinman2
From their press release:

Three-dimensional printing allows extremely small and complex structures to be
made even in small series. A method developed at the KIT for the first time
allows also glass to be used for this technique.

Looks like their PR isn't in sync :)

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huhtenberg
This looks like 2.5D actually.

The base material is a _liquid_ mix of plastic and glass that is first shaped
and then, separately, baked. So I can't see how this can be used to print, for
example, a hollow sphere.

~~~
fudged71
Just because you can find a specific example where a solution doesn't work
doesn't mean the solution has no merit.

A fully hollow sphere may not be possible, but support structures can enable
even more complex parts than hollow spheres.

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Animats
It's like the trick for 3D printing bronze - print with a powder containing
the wanted material, then burn out the carrier material. That's how Shapeways
prints metals and porcelain.

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justinclift
They're also calling it "Liquid Glass".

Reminds me of Liquid Metal:

• [http://liquidmetal.com/properties/the-
science/](http://liquidmetal.com/properties/the-science/)

•
[http://liquidmetal.com/properties/properties/](http://liquidmetal.com/properties/properties/)

Wonder if they'd be useful in combination with each other?

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jf___
extruding glass as in the MIT project is very different then from printing
material that is then thrown into an oven. the resulting piece has really
different properties I imgagine

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sleepychu
I wonder if this process is prohibitively expensive for just using moulds.

