Yang Xu, a graduate student who works in Xie’s lab at Zhejiang University, devised a technique in which she mixed nanoparticles of silica - the main ingredient for making glass - into a liquid containing several compounds. The team set out to see if they could overcome these shortcomings. In addition, the printed item usually has a layered texture that might not be the ideal appearance. And although 3D printing can do so, it’s slow, and an object can be flimsy and need extra support while it’s being made. ![]() But a mold can’t produce a complicated shape, Xie says. ![]() Typically, glass and ceramics are shaped in a mold or are 3D printed in the desired final structure. “But we wanted to extend these techniques to glass and ceramics, which are much harder to process into complex shapes than polymers,” says Tao Xie, Ph.D., the project’s principal investigator. In earlier work, the researchers used origami and the related technique of kirigami - which combines cutting with folding - to shape soft materials made of polymers. ACS Spring 2023 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in-person March 26–30, and features more than 10,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics. The researchers will present their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Their thoroughly modern method, which can be combined with 3D printing, could have applications ranging from sculpture to catalysis and beyond. But now, chemical engineers have extended the centuries-old practice to produce intricate shapes made of glass or other hard materials. The ancient art of origami is well known for transforming sheets of paper and other foldable materials into complex 3D shapes. This technique, which can be integrated with 3D printing, has potential applications in various fields, including sculpture and catalysis. Credit: Yang XuĬhemical engineers have innovated on the ancient art of origami, developing a modern method to create intricate 3D shapes from glass or other hard materials. ![]() Intricate glass designs can be made with origami and cutting techniques.
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