Aug
21
2015
1

It’s Now Possible To 3D Print Glass

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GLASS from Mediated Matter Group on Vimeo.

Researchers at MIT have figured out how to 3D print using glass. Real glass, not transparent plastic, which used to be the closest we could get.

We can 3D print a whole bunch of things, but glass has been a tricky one. Check out our other posts on 3D printing, here!

Their system uses a pair of heated chambers stacked atop one another; the 1900-degree F upper chamber acting as a Kiln Cartridge and the lower chamber serving to anneal the constructed structures.
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Even better, they figured out how to precisely modulate the light transmission, reflection and refraction qualities by precisely varying the thickness of the print. This could make for some very interesting new things, for example better quality and less expensive fiber optics. But I’m tempted to think fully 3D printed telescopes.

 

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