Over the past decade, the advancement of additive manufacturing or 3D printing has shown extraordinary potential to revolutionize many fields, including glass science. We present the development and characterization of sol-gel germania-silica or GeO2-SiO2 feedstocks for fabricating glass by direct ink write (DIW) 3D printing. GeO2-SiO2 feedstocks are of interest because silica-germania glass exhibits similar physical and optical properties of traditional silica glass, but with improved optical transmission and a tunable refractive index. We report an optimized sol-gel formulation for preparing 3D-printed silica-germania glass; and investigate the role of particle size, shape, and morphology by DLS, zeta-potential, and transmission electron microscopy. Spectroscopic studies are presented to reveal the structural evolution of germania-silica feedstocks from particles to glass. Furthermore, we present preliminary spectroscopic studies investigating particle-dispersant interactions towards improving our understanding of the fundamental interactions that govern colloidal stability and DIW feedstock quality.

Investigating novel colloidal sol-gel feedstocks for fabricating 3D-printed functional glass materials

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.