Additive manufacturing of fused silica using coaxial laser glass deposition

Experiment, simulation, and discussion

authored by
Tobias Grabe, Marius Lammers, X. Wang, Katharina Rettschlag, K. Sleiman, Alexander Barroi, Tobias Biermann, Arved Ziebehl, Julian Röttger, Peer-Philip Ley, Alexander Wolf, P. Jaeschke, Jörg Hermsdorf, Stefan Kaierle, Holger Ahlers, Roland Lachmayer, Shunbin Wang
Abstract

Additive Manufacturing of glass opens up new possibilities for the design and integration of optical components. By varying the shape and size of optical elements, optical systems specifically adapted to various applications can be fabricated cost-effectively. The Laser Glass Deposition (LGD) process uses a CO2 laser with a wavelength of 10.6 μm to locally generate temperatures above 2000 °C in fused silica fibers. This enables the Additive Manufacturing and Rapid Prototyping of glass by melting and then layer-by-layer deposition of fibers. However, these high temperatures can result in very high residual stress in the material. The development of a coaxial LGD process aims for a more uniform heating of the glass fiber during the printing process in order to enable a direction-independent process and to reduce the residual stresses within the printed components. In this work, a novel concept for the coaxial LGD process and its successful experimental application is presented. Further, a numerical simulation model is developed to describe the temperature distribution in the glass fiber during the coaxial LGD process. Based on experimental results and on the numerical simulation, the potentials and challenges of the coaxial LGD process are discussed.

Organisation(s)
PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering - Innovation Across Disciplines
Institute of Motion Engineering and Mechanism Design
School for Additive Manufacturing
External Organisation(s)
University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hannover (HsH)
Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH)
Type
Conference contribution
Publication date
08.03.2021
Publication status
Published
Peer reviewed
Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Condensed Matter Physics, Computer Science Applications, Applied Mathematics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Electronic version(s)
https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2577205 (Access: Closed)