MIT Creates a 3D Printer That Can Make Glass

In the world of the 3D printing industry, companies have been innovating world-class printers day in and day out. People kept thinking about all the things that the future 3D printer might do and to surprise most avid fans, MIT just created a glass 3D printer. People who belong to the prestigious institution call it the “viscous sewing machine”.

Dr. Pierre-Thomas Brun, an instructor in applied mathematics at MIT, recently said in an interview at Sculpteo that the work began with molten glass and with the help of Neri Oxman from MIT Media Lab. Together with the team, Brun began experimenting on how it can be molded using a 3D printer and with this discovery, the group might have just changed the world when it comes to glass production.

The Idea

Enthusiastically, Brun somehow was delighted when working with the team on different substances and the results were truly amazing. Brun’s experience on the matter opened doors for the discovery of the use of mathematical formulas. Brun added that he aims to apply mathematics in life and how it can be of help from the coil formed from a honey onto a toast. He will solely concentrate on researching on the dynamics of fluids and flexible solids and how it can contribute research, he added.

From describing honey and other materials, Brun finally decided that he wanted more, something concrete so to say. He did state that between molten glass and honey, the similarities are not so vague and how strong a honey can be when it coils into a shape and hardens.

3D Printing

Brun stated that the glass is somewhere between viscous and elastic and it requires a 3D printer that can maintain high temperatures when creating a viable model. It is about compromising with the temperature that does the trick in achieving a specific viscosity, he added.

In the light of the discovery, the team along with Brun was quite aware that their research and study is quite impossible to achieve without sharing viable information about glass manipulation. The Mediated Matter, Oxman’s group, has not just teamed up with Brun but also with the MIT Glass lab in order to create the amazing hardware that can sustain glass printing. The project was entitled G3DP or Glass 3D Printing and not only that this project can help when it comes to industrial matter but also a new form of art itself. The results were so amazing that the group actually created the new machine to add to the marvelous inventions in today’s generation.

G3DP

The new hardware consists of one part that functions as a kiln, a device that used to melt glass at temperatures more than 1000° Celsius. The lower part is the traditional extruder which the melted glass will flow and hardens.

All of this information will be presented on a show later this year at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. There are a lot of innovations happening in the 3D Printing world and the researchers believe that the project can help those who are in the glass industry.