Laser Based 3D Printing of Fused Silica Glass

Custom made glass fabrication often requires highly skilled scientific glass blowers, or advanced processing techniques and access to clean-room technologies. Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, of optical quality glass structures would be a valuable complementary approach and is highly sought after. However, 3D printing glass has proven to be a significant challenge with the main issues related to the high temperatures associated with glass processing, stress and crack formation due to thermal expansion and brittleness. Early attempts using laser sintering of glass powder, either dry or using binding agents [1], resulted in opaque glass following debinding and sintering. Today optically clear glass has been reported using different techniques, including filament based [2], extrusion [3], and light curable resins mixed with nano-powders [4], among others [5].