TY - JOUR
T1 - 3D Printed Optical Quality Silica and Silica–Titania Glasses from Sol–Gel Feedstocks
AU - Destino, Joel F.
AU - Dudukovic, Nikola A.
AU - Johnson, Michael A.
AU - Nguyen, Du T.
AU - Yee, Timothy D.
AU - Egan, Garth C.
AU - Sawvel, April M.
AU - Steele, William A.
AU - Baumann, Theodore F.
AU - Duoss, Eric B.
AU - Suratwala, Tayyab
AU - Dylla-Spears, Rebecca
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Taylor Bryson for performing the CTE measurements and Paul Ehrmann for collecting DLS data. EAG Laboratories (Liverpool, NY) performed the ICP-MS analysis. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 within the LDRD program 16-SI-003, LLNL-JRNL-737841.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - A method for fabricating optical quality silica and silica–titania glasses by three-dimensional (3D) printing is reported. Key to this success is the combination of sol–gel derived silica and silica–titania colloidal feedstocks, direct ink writing (DIW) technology, and conventional glass thermal processing methods. Printable silica and silica–titania sol inks are prepared directly from molecular precursors by a simple one-pot method, which is optimized to yield viscous, shear-thinning colloidal suspensions with tuned rheology ideal for DIW. After printing, the parts are dried and sintered under optimized thermal conditions to ensure complete organic removal and uniform densification without crystallization. Characterizations of the 3D-printed pure silica and silica–titania glasses show that they are equivalent to commercial optical fused silica and silica–titania glasses. More specifically, they exhibit comparable chemical composition, SiO2 network structure, refractive index, dispersion, optical transmission, and coefficient of thermal expansion. 3D-printed silica and silica–titania glasses also exhibit comparable polished surface roughness and meet refractive index homogeneity standards within range of commercial optical grade glasses. This method establishes 3D printing as a viable tool to create optical glasses with compositional and geometric configurations that are inaccessible by conventional optical fabrication methods.
AB - A method for fabricating optical quality silica and silica–titania glasses by three-dimensional (3D) printing is reported. Key to this success is the combination of sol–gel derived silica and silica–titania colloidal feedstocks, direct ink writing (DIW) technology, and conventional glass thermal processing methods. Printable silica and silica–titania sol inks are prepared directly from molecular precursors by a simple one-pot method, which is optimized to yield viscous, shear-thinning colloidal suspensions with tuned rheology ideal for DIW. After printing, the parts are dried and sintered under optimized thermal conditions to ensure complete organic removal and uniform densification without crystallization. Characterizations of the 3D-printed pure silica and silica–titania glasses show that they are equivalent to commercial optical fused silica and silica–titania glasses. More specifically, they exhibit comparable chemical composition, SiO2 network structure, refractive index, dispersion, optical transmission, and coefficient of thermal expansion. 3D-printed silica and silica–titania glasses also exhibit comparable polished surface roughness and meet refractive index homogeneity standards within range of commercial optical grade glasses. This method establishes 3D printing as a viable tool to create optical glasses with compositional and geometric configurations that are inaccessible by conventional optical fabrication methods.
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U2 - 10.1002/admt.201700323
DO - 10.1002/admt.201700323
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85040182200
VL - 3
JO - Advanced Materials Technologies
JF - Advanced Materials Technologies
SN - 2365-709X
IS - 6
M1 - 1700323
ER -