This is how 3D printers can now make glass

KARLSRUHE, GERMANY — A group of German researchers have developed a new method for making glass with 3D printing technology.

The 3D printed glass is made from a mixture of glass nanoparticles and a photocurable liquid, which acts as a binding agent. Through a method known as stereolithography, the mixture is shaped and hardened after exposure to UV light. Any remaining liquid is burnt away by high heat, which further fuses the glass nanoparticles together.

The research was published in the journal Nature.

“We present a new method, an innovation in materials processing, in which the material of the piece manufactured is high-purity quartz glass with the respective chemical and physical properties,” Bastian Rapp, a principal investigator at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and an author of the paper said in a press release.