title: The molten glass sewing machine.
abstract: We present a fluid-instability-based approach for digitally fabricating geometrically complex uniformly sized structures in molten glass. Formed by mathematically defined and physically characterized instability patterns, such structures are produced via the additive manufacturing of optically transparent glass, and result from the coiling of an extruded glass thread. We propose a minimal geometrical model-and a methodology-to reliably control the morphology of patterns, so that these building blocks can be assembled into larger structures with tailored functionally and optically tunable properties.This article is part of the themed issue 'Patterning through instabilities in complex media: theory and applications'.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA pierrethomas.brun@gmail.com.
authors.forename: P-T
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4175-0604
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Brun
authors.affiliation: Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Chikara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Inamura
authors.affiliation: Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lizardo
authors.affiliation: Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.|Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Franchin
authors.affiliation: Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.affiliation: Glass Lab, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Houk
authors.affiliation: Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Neri
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oxman
keywords: coiling; glass; honey; instability; pattern; viscous thread