Wire-Fed Additive Manufacturing of Transparent Glass Parts

Abstract

This paper presents a new technique for additive manufacturing of transparent glass. In this process, transparent glass is wire-fed into a laser generated melt pool, which solidifies as the work piece is moved relative to a stationary laser beam. The key parameters are identified in terms of their effects on the morphology and transparency of printed walls. The relationship between these parameters is studied experimentally. It is demonstrated that the process parameters strongly affect the morphology and proper selection of the scan speed, feed rate and laser power can produce optimum results. A key advantage of this process relative to powder bed techniques is the ability to form optically transparent parts. The process parameters also determine the transmissivity of the final sample. The transmissivity is measured experimentally for builds with different process parameters.

Meeting Name

ASME 2015 International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference, MSEC2015 (2015: Jun. 8-12, Charlotte, NC)

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Comments

This work was supported by the Missouri S&T Materials Research and Intelligent Systems Centers, as well as grants from the Department of Education (P200A120062), and National Science Foundation (CMMI-1301414), (EEC1004839).

Keywords and Phrases

Glass; Laser beams; Manufacture; Feed-rates; Laser power; Powder bed; Process parameters; Scan speed; Stationary laser beam; Transmissivity; Transparent glass; 3D printers

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

978-0-7918-5682-6

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2015 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jun 2015

Link to Full Text

Share

 
COinS