Here at 3D Rapid Print, one of the fastest growing 3D Printing companies in the Thames Valley, we like to keep abreast of the latest innovations in 3D printing.
On April 14th 2022, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley) announced that they had developed a new way to 3D print glass microstructures, which Berkeley boasted was faster and produced objects with higher optical quality, design flexibility and strength.
The team collaborated with researchers from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany to expand the capabilities of a 3D printing process they unveiled in 2019 called Computed Axial Lithography (CAL), enabling it to make much finer features and 3D print in glass. They named their new system micro-CAL and their research was published in the journal Science.
CAL uses a laser to project patterns of light into a rotating volume of light-sensitive material, solidifying it into the desired shape. To 3D print in glass this way, the researchers used a special resin containing glass nanoparticles surrounded by a light-sensitive binder liquid that the Freiburg team developed. The light from the laser solidifies the binder before the object is heated to remove the binder and fuse the glass particles together.
When the team first published their method in 2019, CAL could 3D print polymers objects with features down to circa a third of a millimetre in size, but micro-CAL enabled the team to increase this level of precision to circa 20μm, or about a quarter of the width of a human hair. The team also showed that their method could also 3D print glass objects with features down to circa 50μm in size and that CAL-printed glass objects had more consistent strength than those made using conventional 3D printing means.
Berkeley hoped that its method would lead to new and more efficient ways to enable manufacturers of microscopic glass objects to meet customers’ requirements for geometry, size and optical and mechanical properties, especially in compact cameras, virtual reality headsets and scientific instruments like microscopes.
3D printing is an amazing tool. It can grow your small business or start a mini revolution in an industry. Explore what it can do for you when you contact us today.
Disclaimer: Featured image of “The Glass Blowers in Incheville pres Eu” is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer.
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