As with its ceramics 3-D printing recipe, the Solheim lab is releasing its method of printing glass for general use.
“By publishing these recipes without proprietary claims, we hope to encourage further experimentation and innovation within artistic and design communities,” said Duane Storti, a UW associate professor of mechanical engineering and co-director of the Solheim Lab.
Artist Meghan Trainor, a graduate student in the UW’s Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media working at the Solheim Lab, was the first to use the new method to produce objects other than test shapes.
“Creating kiln-fired glass objects from digital models gives my ideas an immediate material permanence, which is a key factor in my explorations of digital art forms,” Trainor said. “Moving from idea to design to printed part in such a short period of time creates an engaging iterative process where the glass objects form part of a tactile feedback loop.”
Ronald Rael, an assistant professor of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, has been working with the Solheim Lab to set up his own 3-D printer. Rael is working on new kinds of ceramic bricks that can be used for evaporative cooling systems.
“3-D printing in glass has huge potential for changing the thinking about applications of glass in architecture,” Rael said. “Before now, there was no good method of rapid prototyping in glass, so testing designs is an expensive, time-consuming process.” Rael adds that 3-D printing allows one to insert different forms of glass to change the performance of the material at specific positions as required by the design.
Source: www.physorg.com