Glass Printing

By on September 28th, 2009 in blog

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We’ve seen many different materials being used as the print medium for 3D printers, including the obvious (titanium, wax, plastic) and a few rather bizarre ones (paper, nutella, pasta and sugar), but we haven’t really noticed Glass yet. Until now.

According to PhysOrg.com news:

A team of engineers and artists working at the University of Washington’s Solheim Rapid Manufacturing Laboratory has developed a way to create glass objects using a conventional 3-D printer. The technique allows a new material to be used in such devices.

The key to the new Vitraglyphic process was the realization that if a material could be powdered to less than 20 microns in diameter, the material could likely be successfully fed through 3D printers. The glass powder is mixed with a binder and then objects are printed. After printing completes, the object is then fired to fuse the glass bits together.

Via University of Washington and Physorg (Hat tip to Micah!)

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!

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