Gallery: We can now 3D-print glass -- and it looks amazing
A method for 3D-printing glass that uses cartridges heated to 1,000°C has been developed by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The process owes very little to printing and is better understood as additive manufacturing, with layers of molten glass being slowly drizzled into shape through a nozzle.
Known as G3DP, the system was developed by MIT's Mediated Matter Group. Drawing from a chamber of molten glass heated to 1,000°C, the printer uses an alumina-zircon-silica nozzle to drizzle small layers to slowly build the glassware.
In a video demonstrating the technology, the molten glass appears like runny honey, slowly falling out of the nozzle and onto the structure.
The system isn't limited to simple shapes and can drizzle glass into different patterns and shapes to create complex, elegant designs. Some of the early work using the system will go on display at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in 2016.