Methods and Apparatus for Manufacturing and Printing Hollow Spheres

A method of forming hollow spheres from an amorphous material comprising:

• providing an amorphous material having a temperature-dependent viscosity;
• providing a source of a gas;
• flowing a stream of the gas coaxially through a flow of the amorphous material to form at least one hollow sphere having the gas disposed therein;
• depositing the at least one hollow sphere onto a base plate surface such that the at least one hollow sphere free falls to generate a target kinetic energy in the at least one hollow sphere, wherein the kinetic energy on impact with the surface is sufficient to deform the at least one hollow sphere without rupture;
• and
• repeating the deposition of a plurality of hollow spheres layer-by-layer to form a three dimensional object therefrom.