Using a 3D printer that works with molten glass, researchers forged LEGO-like glass bricks with a strength comparable to concrete. The bricks could have a role in circular construction in which materials are used over and over again.
“Glass as a structural material kind of breaks people’s brains a little bit,” says Michael Stern, a former MIT graduate student and researcher in both MIT’s Media Lab and Lincoln Laboratory. “We’re showing this is an opportunity to push the limits of what’s been done in architecture.”
Stern is also the founder of MIT spinoff, Evenline. That company developed a special 3D printer that can execute additive manufacturing using molten glass as its feedstock, which you can see in operation in the following video.
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