Fused silica glass is an amorphous material with unique properties such as optical transparency, high thermal and chemical stability, high melting point, low thermal expansion, and biological inertness. This makes it makes it a unique material for many applications such as optics, photonics, biology, medicine, and art. Conventional processing method for 3D glass structures involve melting or fusing silica particles at high temperatures, which limits the printability and resolution. Despite the high interest and many potential applications, very few reports have been published in recent years for methods and materials for fabricating 3D glass structures.<br/><br/>In this research, we present a new ink for printing 3D fused silica structures by all-solution ink, with a UV-curable sol-gel composition. Starting from metal alkoxide precursors containing UV-curable groups, the precursors hydrolyze and condense to form siloxane oligomers. After printing, the structures are dried and sintered to form a transparent silica objects.

Additive manufacturing of transparent silica glass from solutions

2019 Spring National Meeting

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