How to build (and rebuild) with glass

ETHAN TOWNSEND

Stern and Kaitlyn Becker ’09, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and the other co-author, got their inspiration for the bricks in part from their experience as students at MIT’s Glass Lab.

“I found the material fascinating,” says Stern, who went on to design a 3D printer that can deposit molten recycled glass. “I started thinking about how glass printing can find its place.”

“I’m excited about expanding the design and manufacturing spaces for challenging materials with interesting characteristics, like glass and its optical properties and recyclability,” says Becker, who began exploring these ideas as a faculty member. “As long as it’s not contaminated, you can recycle glass almost indefinitely.”

For their new study, Becker, Stern, and coauthors Daniel Massimino, SM ’24, and Charlotte Folinus ’20, SM ’22, of MIT and Ethan Townsend of Evenline used a glass printer that pairs with a furnace to melt crushed glass bottles into material that can be deposited in layered patterns. They printed brick prototypes using soda-lime glass commonly used in glassblowing studios. Two round wedges made of a different material, similar to the wedges on Lego bricks, are built into each of them so that they can be joined together. Another material placed between the bricks prevents scratches or cracks, but can be removed if the structure is to be disassembled and recycled. The figure-eight shape of the prototypes allows them to be assembled into curved walls, although recycled bricks can also be melted down in a printer and molded into new shapes. The group is investigating whether multiple interlocking elements can also be made from printed glass.