3D printed glass: surface finish and bulk properties as a function of the printing process

3D-printing, along with other additive manufacturing (AM) and rapid prototyping (RP) techniques, involves building up structures in a layer by layer fashion based upon a computer design file. Such techniques are well suited to the production of one-off, complex structures that would often be difficult to produce using traditional manufacturing methods. There has been rapid growth and interest in this field during recent years and a range of techniques are now available which make use of many common materials such as plastic, metal, wood and ceramic. However, relatively little has been done to develop AM using glass. Glass is usually printed at room temperature and requires a second step, the firing process, to achieve the final result. Depending on which 3D printing technique is used to produce the so called greenware and what support material surrounds the object during firing the surface finish and the bulk properties differ greatly. We will report different techniques and the physical properties (Young’s modulus, opacity and density) of glass generated by them.