The latest news in building field comes from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where a research team landed at the 3d printing of reusable bricks. The chosen material was unexpected: nothing less than the glass.
If uncontaminated, glass can potentially be recycled to infinity: this property makes it a resource of great charm in a world that is increasingly attentive to sustainability. Precisely for this reason, at MIT they wanted to test the feasibility of using glass made through additive manufacturing in the creation of structural, resistant and innovative building components. mechanical tests, described in the study published in Glass Structures & Engineering, have demonstrated how one of these bricks, similar to those LEGO due to the presence of two round pegs, it is able to resist pressures equal to those that can be supported by a block of cement.
Focus on technique
MIT engineers used a 3D printer for glass personalized, the Glass 3D Printer 3 (G3DP3), which was provided by Evenline, a spin-off company of the Institute. The bricks produced are multilayer: the machine, in fact, is able to melt shattered glass bottles, and then place them one on top of the other. The advanced extrusion system employed has allowed to overcome the problem of the high temperatures needed to melt the glass, usually incompatible with traditional printing techniques.
They have been printed three types of blocks (hollow, printed and cast, fully 3D printed), all tested with the aid of a hydraulic press: the results saw the triumph of the figure eight shaped bricks with a separate interlocking device in the lower part, made of different material.
The advantages
As mentioned, these glass bricks are incredibly fresh, so much so that they are suitable for the construction of transparent walls in complex buildings. The possibilities that open up to architects and designers are therefore infinite: by controlling the shape and arrangement of the bricks through 3D printing, there will be no brakes on creativity. Thanks to this new use of glass, it will be possible to play with lights, shadows and transparencies, giving life to bright and airy, but always solid, environments.
The fundamental aspect of this project, however, lies in the concept of circularity: glass bricks can be assembled and disassembled with great ease and infinitely recyclable (removing the interlocking devices). For the MIT team, it is essential that the building materials are reusable e re-adaptable, in order to reduce the carbon production of the building sector. The energy efficiency of buildings is also optimised thanks to the greater diffusion of natural light that glass allows, thus reducing artificial heat and cooling systems.
To demonstrate the potential of their work, MIT engineers built a glass wall off campus. In the future, they plan to build larger, more complex buildings: in the construction industry, the challenges posed by glass processing seem to be numbered.
Sources: news.mit.edu, 3dnatives.com, 30science.com
