Sciencemadness Discussion Board

3D printing quartz glass

phlogiston - 2-6-2017 at 04:22

A recent nature paper describes a very interesting method for 3D printing quartz glass structures.

http://www.kit.edu/kit/english/pi_2017_049_nature-3d-printin...

Just thought some of you might find it interesting as well. Imagine the possibilities if you could print your own quartz glassware!

They use a suspension of quartz particles in a polymer in which they initiate polymerization with a laser.
By heating the printed structure they first evaporate the polymer and then sinter it at high temperatures to form the final glass object.

Phosphor-ing - 2-6-2017 at 05:25

That is awesome. I wonder how long it will be before they get a Printer to market?

Morgan - 2-6-2017 at 06:13

What a pretzel in lieu of a Klein bottle?

Chemetix - 2-6-2017 at 15:14

I don't think flasks or enclosed spaces would work with quartz, the fusion temperature would be enough to sag the structure.

Morgan - 2-6-2017 at 17:29

Well maybe in outer space they could get around the sagging problem or perhaps rotating the object slowly in some manner as it's being sintered.
If you could precisely flash/pulse heat sections of the structure in short bursts somehow and then lower the temperature below the fusion point quickly the "internal" Klein bottle structures could maybe have a chance to fuse without the exterior surfaces overheating. Or maybe snake in a high melting point metal of some sort in the internal regions and use induction heating?
One day they will figure it out most likely.

Chemetix - 2-6-2017 at 17:49

I think I'll stick to quartz tube stock and a burner...getting into space with CNC laser, pulse fusion sintering technology seems...well, overkill.


Morgan - 4-6-2017 at 06:16

Some ordinary glass printing. Humble beginnings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvcpbtpWpGY

Nature clip with the tiny pretzel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBMB4FNoYz4

"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."
https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v544/n7650/full/nature...

[Edited on 4-6-2017 by Morgan]

Morgan - 4-6-2017 at 09:01

Quote: Originally posted by Chemetix  
I don't think flasks or enclosed spaces would work with quartz, the fusion temperature would be enough to sag the structure.


That's a definite obstacle to overcome but if you could bang out a quartz Klein bottle either through printing or the ordinary way well enough, with work I was thinking you could make a unique combustion toy/kinetic art out of it that could handle the stress of high heat, that being a little self-propelled jam jar jet Klein bottle driven vehicle of some sort. And you could see the combustion or even add a colorant to the fuel or run it on Mobius strip track to be fanciful, as a "weekend project". I doubt very much any of the typical Klein bottles would sustain combustion without some design modification because of the fragile nature of combustion and internal obstructions, jam jars don't like irregularities or shapes that allow for chaos to happen.
Felix Klein's drawing
http://www.kleinbottle.com/The%20First%20Klein%20Bottle.html
One of my bottles
http://www.pulse-jets.com/phpbb3/download/file.php?id=14901&...
A thermoacoustic toy I accidentally melted a deformation in towards the end of the run
http://www.pulse-jets.com/phpbb3/download/file.php?id=13950&...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8q-keIP_ls
Some Heraeus flame-fused quartz tubing made from Madagascar sourced quartz - I wish I could reshape into other things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20XcCHnynDY
A clip of someone diligently making a Klein bottle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r54vV3vrn8
A fused quartz crucible I tried as a jam jar jet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUgGpxZ-4uY

A spiral Klein bottle, kind of different
https://www.flickr.com/photos/37101095@N00/4214858761

Mobius strip track with 3 twists
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxror-fnOL4

The simplicity of a jam jar jet using a coin and small bottle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLw5AXBeAVs
https://tokiotours.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/significance-of-...

Chemetix - 4-6-2017 at 14:12

PM me with a design and a budget and I'll see what I can do for you...

UC235 - 4-6-2017 at 17:52

A similar manufacturing method already exists, but instead of polymer, it uses an easily worked glass. The material is called VYCOR and you've probably run across it before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vycor

wayne_m - 2-7-2017 at 12:56

To print complex structures without sagging, I've usually seen a printer that prints a soluble support structure around the piece. Perhaps something like graphite that can be oxidized away after sintering or fusing in an anaerobic chamber?
Another method I've seen is a printer that drops an even layer of polymer base with one head and follows it immediately with the catalyst, which is printed in the appropriate pattern. The catalyst binds the fresh polymer base layer to the layer below it. The unreacted portion of the base remains powdered, and can be recycled endlessly, unless contaminated. When finished, the piece is simply pulled out of the powder and allowed to drain. Amazingly complex shapes can be made this way. Perhaps quartz powder could be used and sintered/fused by laser? Have to work out how much the volume would change as it fused... Maybe a laser scanner to find depressions caused by the fusing, and the powder head drop new powder into them to compensate... So many things to consider!

officescape - 30-4-2018 at 00:08

I always thought you could print very low conductivity materials with very high melting points by using inductive heating coils and graphite mixed in with the material, but the graphite would become part of the glass in this case, might make more sense for some types of ceramic materials.

Graphite does not become less effective at inductive coupling after many uses and has a very high melting point so that makes it most effective as a material.

Chemetix - 30-4-2018 at 03:19

Quote: Originally posted by officescape  
I always thought you could print very low conductivity materials with very high melting points by using inductive heating coils and graphite mixed in with the material, but the graphite would become part of the glass in this case, might make more sense for some types of ceramic materials.

Graphite does not become less effective at inductive coupling after many uses and has a very high melting point so that makes it most effective as a material.


Whoa steady on there cowboy, you've gone off and posted a heap of stuff that sounds like you've taken a bit too much aderall. Your ideas aren't terrible, just not thought through before posting. Don't succumb to the cheap thrills of 'I had a half baked idea let's all talk about it' syndrome.

Propose something based on sound principles or experience, ask why something you observed doesn't make sense based on your current understanding, explain your current interest in terms of the science you are undertaking. Science depends on peer review of experience and explanation, not peers instantly responding "yah brah, totally! Mad! That's all like, totally awesome an' all- like- y'no ! Post it on you tube man that'd be like so cool!'



officescape - 30-4-2018 at 08:22

Quote: Originally posted by Chemetix  
Quote: Originally posted by officescape  
I always thought you could print very low conductivity materials with very high melting points by using inductive heating coils and graphite mixed in with the material, but the graphite would become part of the glass in this case, might make more sense for some types of ceramic materials.

Graphite does not become less effective at inductive coupling after many uses and has a very high melting point so that makes it most effective as a material.


Whoa steady on there cowboy, you've gone off and posted a heap of stuff that sounds like you've taken a bit too much aderall. Your ideas aren't terrible, just not thought through before posting. Don't succumb to the cheap thrills of 'I had a half baked idea let's all talk about it' syndrome.

Propose something based on sound principles or experience, ask why something you observed doesn't make sense based on your current understanding, explain your current interest in terms of the science you are undertaking. Science depends on peer review of experience and explanation, not peers instantly responding "yah brah, totally! Mad! That's all like, totally awesome an' all- like- y'no ! Post it on you tube man that'd be like so cool!'




This isnt in the realm of mental masturbation or drug induced ramblings, I have actually built a graphite based 3D printing head which is inductively heated for printing of metals and other materials, its in the prototype stage but I still thought it was worth sharing. If you could push ground glass bits through a graphite tube you could have a 3D quartz printer as was the topic. Mixing them was a way of better distributing the heat but you are right, its not very viable.

sodium_stearate - 30-4-2018 at 15:55

All the endless babble these days about 3-D printing
reminds me of the way the car makers were pushing
"dual airbags" about 20 years ago.

It's push, push, push.

Honestly, there are much better ways to make things
than by 3-D printing.

Ok, for simple small plastic parts, it works.

It's almost as silly sounding (to me) as all the babble
about "driverless vehicles" that one encounters a lot
now.:D