Direct 3D-printing of phosphate glass by fused deposition modeling
Reda Mohammed Zaki, Clément Strutynski, Simon Kaser, Dominique Bernard, Grégory Hauss, Matthieu Faessel, Jocelyn Sabatier, Lionel Canioni, Younès Messaddeq, Sylvain Danto, Thierry Cardinal
Abstract
Additive manufacturing of oxide glass enables on-demand, low-cost manufacturing of complex optical components for numerous applications, opening new opportunities to explore functionalities inaccessible otherwise. Here, we report a straightforward extrusion-based 3D-printing approach, deploying the fused deposition modeling (FDM) process, to produce optically transparent phosphate glasses with complex geometries and preserved structural and photoluminescence properties. Using a customized entry-level FDM desktop printer with a layer resolution of 100 μm, highly dense and transparent europium-doped phosphate glass structures can be fabricated from glass filaments pulled using a fiber-drawing tower from the parent glass preform. Combined with the suggested strategies for performance and quality improvement, professional-grade FDM printers can offer better layer resolutions. This direct approach for 3D-printing phosphate glass may open up new horizons not only for developing cutting-edge optical components but also for promoting new biomedical solutions upon making use of alternative biocompatible phosphate compositions.