Silica optical fibre fabrication via 3D printing technology: material processing and related issues

Three-dimensional (3D) printing or additive manufacturing (AM) is revolutionising manufacturing in many fields including photonic materials. As recent research shows, 3D printing could greatly facilitate the development of silica optical fibres (SOFs) of new material composition and structure designs that is very difficult with the existing manufacturing technologies. In this paper, the background, technical aspects, and prospects of 3D printing for special SOF developments are first introduced. Then, the material processing for 3D digital light processing (DLP) technology-based SOFs, including feedstock preparation, 3D printing, debinding and sintering processes, is presented. Finally, we report our recent work on material processing, 3D printing and, in particular, debinding–sintering processing and demonstrate that a continuous debinding–sintering process including a final stage of 2-h holding at 1240 ^∘ C is both efficient and effective in producing desirable results. This is followed by a discussion of some key remaining issues and challenges, as well as possible solutions in further 3D SOF development.