In the past, we’ve seen 3D printing largely rely on materials such as plastic, or at least some kind of variant, which by itself is already pretty cool since it has led to the creation of all sorts of wondrous tools both novel and medical. However it seems that things could be kicked up a notch as researchers at MIT in collaboration with Mediated Matter Group have found a way to use glass as the printing material instead.
Now you might be wondering how on earth does this work? Isn’t glass hard and rigid to begin with? How does one “print” with that? This is thanks to a process called G3DP (Glass 3D Printing). The process is an additive manufacturing platform performed with dual heated chambers, with the top chamber called the Kiln Cartridge that has been heated to a whopping 1,900F.
The lower chamber works to anneal the material, and the end result is a rather funky shaped glass. While it is possible to mold a glass into weird and twisted shapes through conventional means, this process does appear to be faster and more efficient. According to the researchers, they believe that this process could actually lead to better quality and less expensive fiber optics.
In the meantime if you’d like to see the somewhat mesmerizing process in action, check it out in the video above.
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