3D Printing World News / Optical manufacturing covers a range of products, from high-transparency components in industrial installations to soft-light bedside lamps, from glasses lenses to camera lenses. Although lighting, optical instrument manufacturing, glass manufacturing, etc. are already quite "traditional" industries in the concept of many people, behind these industries is also a "real revolution" - 3D printing has entered optical applications. You should know that a good optical component costs more than 100,000 yuan or even hundreds of thousands of yuan, which is simply a "big earthquake" for the optical industry. Today, "The World of 3D Printing" opens the magical door for 3D printing in optical applications.
Netherlands - Revolutionary optical printing technology
The Netherlands is currently the only company in the world that can directly print out optical lenses through 3D printers. The company invented a technology to use 3D printing to make functional optical products and their prototypes—and based on this, it launched an additive manufacturing platform for optical products and a new LUX-, which can 3D print optical products up to 20 mm thick.
Printing technology is essentially a one-stop technology from CAD design to optical components, and the printed optical components do not require post-processing such as polishing, grinding and shading. Their technology is based mainly on mature wide-format industrial inkjet printing equipment. Transparent polymer droplets that can be cured by ultraviolet cured are sprayed out and then cured by strong UV lamps integrated on the printhead, which can eventually form a variety of geometric shapes, including transparent prisms or lenses, as well as full-color 3D graphics and textures.
It is pointed out that 3D printing has two major advantages in the optical industry: speed up delivery speed and customization.
1. Speed. From design to delivery, 3D printed optical lenses, components, and even the entire lighting device can be made in one day, without molding, molding or post-processing, such as polishing, grinding, or coloring, and delivery time is greatly reduced. In addition, while ensuring completion within production time, the customer's design shape and complexity are also taken into account. 3D printed optical lamps are therefore more cost-effective.
2. Customization. In a fiercely competitive market, personalization is undoubtedly one of the best strategies for product breakthroughs. 3D printing can achieve localized and on-demand production, allowing consumers to fully enjoy the convenience of customized manufacturing. On the other hand, designers and engineers can continue to iterate and continuously improve product design solutions, produce new types of lamps, and flexibly adjust the distribution of light - at this time, they can no longer rely on existing standards and ready-made parts.
It is understood that in September last year, we have cooperated with 3D printing service platforms and software developers. Customers only need to create their own design plans and enter the focal length and diameter to generate a 3D effect preview.
——New 3D printing technology that can print LED light sources
3D printing is manufactured in optical components, witnessing the birth of the world's thinnest LED lights, while graphene 3D printing opens the door to set up organic LED light sources.
The company recently submitted a provisional patent application for their first 3D printer design – III. This is an advanced multi-function 3D printer. Interestingly, according to the patent application description, III can also 3D print organic LED light sources using a unique process, and can be used immediately as soon as it is printed.
Proto Labs, USA – 3D printing optical grade LSR material
An optical grade liquid silicone rubber that can be 3D printed has been developed. It indicates that this optical grade LSR is transparent liquid with a soft texture and can replace glass materials in many optical applications.
Jeff, product manager of the company's LSR, said that with the advent of optical grade LSR, product components can be combined into one during the manufacturing process, thereby reducing costs and overall inventory. In addition, this material has engineering-grade thermosetting and does not lose transparency when exposed to high temperature or ultraviolet light for a long time, and engineers can use it to develop products and components for the lighting industry. This optical LSR material is much lighter than glass and most other plastics and is less prone to scratching and cracking.
Proto Labs says 3D objects generated with LSR materials are second only to glass, and they can withstand the heat generated by high-wattage LEDs while maintaining sufficient flexibility.
University of Stuttgart, Germany - Laser 3D printing technology that can be used for micro-optical components
Recently, a research team released by the University of Stuttgart, Germany, showed that 3D printing can create microscopic optical components with higher accuracy and reproduction efficiency. This discovery may have a significant impact on the manufacturing of micro-optical components and is expected to produce more microscopic devices used in sensors and communication devices. It is understood that the technology they developed is called femtosecond laser writing, and the researchers said they used this technology to directly create an optical element that is only 4.4 microns in the center of an optical fiber with a diameter of only 125 microns (equivalent to the diameter of human hair).
This technology is not much different from other 3D laser engraving technologies, but the printing level has reached the nano level, which is more stable and reliable. Essentially, this process mainly involves selectively hardening of the photosensitive resin material by pulsed laser, and then removing the unhardened part, resulting in a 3D model of the microscopic optical components.
Chemical giant WACKER—Silicon 3D printing technology that can be applied to optical
WACKER Chemical (WACKER) established WACKER Silicone Division as its branch of silicone production, and cooperated with German product development company GmbH to develop an ultraviolet curing printing method, which can use silicone as a 3D printing material. Because the silicone is transparent, this special silicone developed by WACKER can also be used in optical applications such as 3D printed custom contact lenses.
The process they eventually developed was similar to traditional 3D printing technology, but used a glass printing bed, and a book-based silicone material that has a high viscosity and is sensitive to UV light. During 3D printing, similar inkjet printers print heads lay a thin layer of tiny droplets of silicone on the glass printing bed and then vulcanize it with UV light. Each new silicone layer is laid while its next layer is vulcanized, and the process is repeated until the target object is 3D printed. The final printed object has a smooth surface, exactly the same as the traditionally made silicone parts, and is completely biocompatible, heat resistant and transparent.
MTI Glass Laboratory G3DP Project—New Process of Glass 3D Printing
From the MIT Glass Laboratory, the MIT Glass Laboratory has been developing advanced processes for precision glass 3D printing in the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Wyss Institute and the MIT Glass Laboratory, and they have created an incredible 3D printed glass structure.
The way this glass 3D printer works is actually very simple. The top of the machine is basically a small kiln, through which the user puts the glass in. The temperature of the kiln fire can rise to about 1900 degrees Fahrenheit, and it is easy to melt the glass placed inside. The lower section of the printer has an alumina-zircon-silica nozzle, which functions similar to the hot end in an FDM 3D printer. The melted glass in the kiln flows down through a funnel and is squeezed out through a nozzle onto the build platform, then slowly cools and hardens. If the user wants to stop printing the glass, just use compressed air to lower the temperature of the nozzle. The results show that the shape of 3D printed objects is very regular and accurate.
The biggest advantage of G3DP is its controllability, and users can even choose the finished product transparency, color, thickness, degree of transmission, reflection and even reflection parameters.
——The new breakthrough point of glass 3D printing has increased to 1640℃
In 2015, it was announced that a major breakthrough was made in the development of FDM (melt deposition molding) 3D printing technology using glass materials - for the first time using a thermal extruder to print glass materials in liquid form.
After repeated experiments, the material temperature increase was finally limited to 850 degrees Celsius. 3D printed borosilicate glass can be used to make more durable vessels, and the melting temperature of the material is further increased to 1,640 degrees Celsius. The technical details of this method have not been disclosed, but it is claimed to be more economical and more suitable for automated manufacturing than the current common glass blowing technology.
Finnish company – expands the 3D printed glass market
At the Glastone Fair in Milan, Finland's Grastone Company brought new progress in the 3D-printed glass process. The new heat treatment production line "" continues the advantages of the "FC500" treatment line and can 3D print smooth, flawless optical glass.
"3D printing is a real and possibilities technology that has the potential to change the entire glass production chain. 3D printing will affect the manufacturing of glass processing equipment, and Grastone hopes to be a leader in this field," said CEO Arto.
3D printing art master Great - create fantastic glass works using the loss of PLA method
Artists from Brooklyn have 3D printed the world's largest installation art work. In 2015, he spent most of his time at the American Creative Glass Center for Art and Creative Glass researching the combination of CAD-based sculpture forms with glass casting.
Last year, he decided to explore a range of casting techniques with the help of 3D printing technology, which resulted in some interesting results. He uses a loss-waxed casting technology called loss-of-PLA casting, which is basically 3D printing + PLA version.
Aoqu 3D-P-Glass imitation glass 3D printing consumables have light transmittance ≥92%!
Aoqu3D launched the highly transparent consumable P-Glass in February 2016, innovatively combining PETG and PC. Dr. Lei Zhouqiao from Aoqu Three-dimensional said that the light transmittance of this consumable is ≥92%, haze is ≤0.2%, and its optical performance exceeds that of glass (glass transmittance is generally between 80%-90%).
P-Glass not only has excellent optical properties, but is also easy to print, has low shrinkage, stable molding, and is environmentally friendly and non-toxic.
More advantages of 3D printing optics
3D printing combines the advantages of plastic optical components, which are printed drop by drop under ultraviolet rays. 3D printing does not require expensive molds, a large number of fixtures or post-processing. Because there are no traditional design and manufacturing process limitations, this unique processing process greatly improves the production speed and flexibility of optics. It has design freedom that it could not have been done before, it does not need to be spherical, or even a rotationally symmetrical optical element. This meaning, in the field of optics, is like a bird flying out of a cage and can soar at will.
1. Free design - customizable shapes, asymmetric design, free deformation
2. Iterability in short delivery, rapid molding and the same design
3. No minimum order quantity: print as much as you want
4. No need to start the mold investment
5. Not sure which design is better? Make it all at once!
6. Lightweight
Design limitations
3D optical printing is still developing as a technical platform, but it is not very perfect yet
A surface must be flat
Cannot have cantilever or hollow structures
Maximum size (14.960”x7.874”); 20mm (0.787”) Maximum thickness
If it is too high, the straight wall will become a problem; only those above 80° can be printed
