Most 3D glass objects are manufactured either by molding, blowing, or perhaps a 3D printing process. But Chinese scientists have devised a technique to fold such items into shape. This has some important advantages over other methods.
This origami-inspired process was devised by Yang Xu, a graduate student working in Professor Tao Xie’s lab at Zhejiang University.
Xu started by mixing nanoparticles of silica into solutions of photosensitive liquid polymers and other compounds. Subsequent exposure to UV light transformed the solution into a solid crosslinked polycaprolactone polymer with silica beads suspended throughout.
Xu cut the material into flat translucent sheets with similar mechanical properties to paper. She folded, twisted, and pulled the sheets into three-dimensional shapes such as cranes, lace vases, feathers, and spheres of interwoven ribbons.
The sheets typically retained these shapes when folded at room temperature, but were found to retain their shape when the polymer was heated to 265 ºF (129 ºC) during folding and stretching. . just Shape up throughout the rest of the process. This occurred because the bonds between the polymer chains permanently rearranged upon application of heat.
Xu then heated the folded sheet to over 1,100 ºF (593 ºC). This melted away the polymer, leaving an opaque version of the folded object made up entirely of interlinked silica beads. fuses and becomes transparent to form a smooth, transparent finished product.
The technique is claimed to be capable of creating much more complex objects than molding or blowing glass. It is also said to be significantly faster than 3D printing. Plus, it doesn’t look rough and layered like many 3D printed items.
Scientists are now adapting the techniques they use to make ceramic products by replacing the silica particles with ones made of materials such as titanium dioxide and zirconium dioxide.
Xu and Xie will present their work this Tuesday at the American Chemical Society’s Spring Meeting.
Source: American Chemical Society by EurekAlert
