Future Glass Factory: Precision Shaping of Glass using Amorphous Silica Nanocomposite Prepolymer and Replication Molding

Abstract

Glass, a versatile and indispensable material, plays a crucial role in industries such as electronics, optics, and chemical sensing due to its exceptional transparency, thermal stability, and recyclability. Despite the benefits of traditional glass fabrication methods like glass blowing, these approaches face significant challenges, including energy-intensive processes, susceptibility to defects, and limitations in creating complex geometries. To address these issues, this thesis introduces a novel fabrication method that combines printable amorphous silica nanocomposite suspensions with replication molding. This innovative technique offers enhanced design flexibility, reduced material waste, and cost-effective production, enabling the creation of intricate 2D and 3D geometries with improved structural and surface quality. The research explores this method’s applications in chemical sensing and resonant devices, highlighting its transformative potential for advanced glass manufacturing. The proposed method employs polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) molds as templates. A glass prepolymer is dispensed into these molds, cured using ultraviolet light, and then subjected to thermal debinding and sintering processes. These steps transform the prepolymer into fully fused silica, achieving uniform thickness, minimized shrinkage, and smooth surfaces. To validate the method, extensive characterization techniques, including surface roughness measurements, thermal analysis, and computational modeling, were employed to ensure high-quality outcomes. Optimization strategies further enhanced device performance by addressing challenges such as bending during processing and improving sintering results.

This thesis demonstrates the efficacy of this approach through key applications. For chemical sensing, a transparent 3D-printed fused silica gas chamber was integrated with a graphene-based sensor for detecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The chamber's transparency enabled ultraviolet-assisted regeneration of graphene’s adsorption properties, restoring sensitivity and ensuring long-term stability. Additionally, a micro dielectric barrier discharge photoionization detector (μDBD-PID) was developed using this technique. This detector employed a colorimetric readout mechanism to analyze changes in plasma luminescence during VOC detection, achieving high sensitivity and selectivity for both polar and non-polar compounds. These advancements highlight the method’s capacity to produce robust and high-performance chemical sensing devices. In the field of resonant devices, the fabrication process was used to create planar double paddle oscillators (DPOs) with varying thicknesses (0.5 mm, 0.8 mm, and 1 mm). These devices exhibited excellent resonance characteristics, with the 1 mm thick DPO achieving a quality factor (Q-factor) of 1,261 in the CL1 mode and 4,563 in ring-down measurements. Similarly, 3D hemispherical resonators (HSRs) were fabricated, with significant improvements in surface smoothness, reducing roughness to 103 nm in second-generation devices. Experimental and computational analyses identified resonance modes (N = 2, N = 3, N = 4), with the highest Q-factor of 482k observed in the N = 3 mode. These results highlight the method's ability to produce high-performance resonant structures essential for sensitive detection and precision applications. In conclusion, this thesis presents a transformative approach to glass fabrication that combines innovative techniques and meticulous optimization to overcome the limitations of traditional methods. By demonstrating its applicability in chemical sensing and resonant device manufacturing, the research underscores the potential of printable glass technologies to revolutionize precision manufacturing. The findings significantly contribute to advancing the state of the art in microfabrication, paving the way for innovative solutions across academia and industry. This work highlights the integration of sustainability, efficiency, and advanced functionality in modern glass-manufacturing processes.