With the development of human civilization and the advancement of culture, art, production tools and technology, the society and economy have been moving forward. Throughout thousands of years of history, China has been far ahead of the rest of the world with its remarkable civilization, especially its economic strength. We can see from the "Century Economic Millennium History" written by Angus Maddison, an Englishman, that China's total economic output accounted for 22.7% of the world's economy in 1000 A.D., 25% in 1500 A.D., and 29.2% in 1600 A.D., and that the Oriental civilization was ahead of the Western world.
However this pattern changed radically after the 17th century. With the establishment of the capitalist system in the United Kingdom, the steam engine began to be used in the field of production, machine production instead of manual production, the whole world from the "handicrafts era" into the "steam era", the first industrial revolution opened the curtain, greatly promoting the European countries The first industrial revolution opened the door and greatly promoted the economic development of European countries. As a result of the change in the mode of production, the production capacity was greatly increased, and the domestic market was unable to absorb the growing demand for commodity production in time, so the capitalist countries such as Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands had to expand their colonies to other continents, such as Asia and Africa, in search of new markets and raw material supply. The European civilization represented by Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands had already overtaken Asia, thus forming a situation in which the East was subordinate to the West, which could be said to have changed the pattern of the world. The most substantial changes occurred in the second industrial revolution to the mid-20th century period. 1870, due to the widespread use of electricity, the world from the "steam era" to the "electrical era", the development of science and technology by leaps and bounds, a variety of new technologies, The development of science and technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, and all kinds of new technologies and inventions have emerged one after another, and have been rapidly applied to industrial production, which has greatly promoted the development of the world economy. Especially the rise of the United States, enough to show that the manufacturing sector has an important role in the development of a country. 18th century, the United States began to follow the example of the United Kingdom to take the road of industrialization and modernization after independence. The United States realized that only by devoting itself to the development of the manufacturing industry could it become one of the world's great powers. in the first half of the 19th century, the most important development in the United States was the creation of a new factory system. For example, it consolidated the existing decentralized production processes, implemented a new division of labor, and then concentrated all the processes of manufacturing a certain commodity in a single factory under unified management. After more than a hundred years of development, by the end of the 19th century, the world's financial center was transferred from London to New York, and the United States became the world's most developed country as well as the world's first economic power. It can be said that the manufacturing industry not only changes the world pattern, but also determines the level of development of a country. For example, 68% of the wealth of the United States will come from the manufacturing industry, 49% of the gross national product is provided by the manufacturing industry; China since the reform and opening up of the manufacturing industry has been developing rapidly, in 2011, China's annual gross output value of high-tech manufacturing industry amounted to 9.2 trillion yuan, accounting for 19.51% of the proportion of China's GDP, the total value of exports of the processing trade amounted to 835.4 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for about 11.2% of the proportion of China's GDP. It can be seen that the development of the manufacturing industry not only provides security for the daily life of the people, but also lays the foundation for the enhancement of China's comprehensive national strength.
Since the outbreak of the global economic crisis caused by the U.S. financial in 2008, it seems that the world economy has never come out of the doldrums, and even though there have been many attempts to rebound during the period, the growth is still weak due to the lack of backbone in the end. Historical experience has repeatedly shown that when the global economy is in recession, it is the time for the emergence of a new economy and the birth of new technologies. The sluggishness of the global economy shows that the traditional relations of production have seriously hindered the development of productive forces, and change will become the new driving force of the relations of production.
This year, the discussion of the third industrial revolution has reached a climax. U.S. scholar Jeremy Rivkin said the combination of the Internet and new energy will produce a new round of industrial revolution, which will be the third "revolution" after the 19th-century steam engine and 20th-century electrification. The Economist magazine also pointed out that the market potential of 3D printing technology is huge, and it is bound to become one of the many breakthroughs that will lead the future trend of manufacturing. These breakthroughs will enable factories to say goodbye to traditional tools such as lathes, drills, stamping presses and mold-making machines, and be dominated by more flexible computer software, which is a sign of the arrival of the third industrial revolution.
3D printing technology belongs to a non-traditional processing technology, also known as additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping, etc., is the world's advanced manufacturing field in the past 30 years, a set of light / machine / electricity, computers, numerical control and new materials in one of the advanced manufacturing technology. With the traditional cutting and other materials, "removal method" is different, 3D printing technology through the powder, liquid sheet and other discrete materials layer by layer accumulation, "natural growth" into a three-dimensional entity. The technology will be three-dimensional entity into a number of two-dimensional plane, greatly reducing the complexity of manufacturing. Theoretically, as long as the design of the structural model on the computer, you can apply the technology without the need for cutting tools, molds and complex processes under the conditions of the design into a physical object quickly. The technology is particularly suitable for aerospace, weaponry, biomedical, automotive manufacturing, molds and other fields in the batch of small, structural asymmetry, curved surfaces and internal structure of the parts (such as aero-engine hollow blade, the human skeleton prosthesis, with the shape of the cooling waterway, etc.) of the rapid manufacturing, in line with the modern and future development trend.
The origin and development of 3D printing technology
The core manufacturing idea of 3D printing technology first originated in the United States. As early as 1892, J.E. Blanther, in his patent, had suggested a layered manufacturing method to form topographic maps.In 1902, Carlo Baese's patent proposed the principle of manufacturing plastic parts with photosensitive polymers.In 1904, Perera proposed a method of cutting contour lines on cardboard and then bonding these cardboards to form a three-dimensional topographic map.In the 1950s Hundreds of patents on 3D printing appeared after that.In the late 1980s, there was a radical development in 3D printing technology, and even more patents appeared, with 24 U.S. patents registered between 1986-1998 alone.In 1986 Hull invented light-curing molding (SLA, Stereo lithography Appearance ), and in 1988 Feygin invented layered solid manufacturing in 1988, Deckard invented powder laser sintering ( SLS, Selective Laser Sintering) in 1989, Crump invented Fused Deposition Manufacturing (FDM, Fused Deposition Modeling) in 1992, and in 1993, Sachs invented the FDM technique at MIT. Sachs invented 3D printing at MIT.
With the continuous invention of various types of 3D printing patented technology, its corresponding production equipment has also been developed. 1988, the United States of America's 3D Systems based on Hull's patents, the production of the first modern 3D printing equipment - SLA-250 (light-curing molding machine), the beginning of the development of 3D printing technology. opened a new era in the development of 3D printing technology. In the decade that followed, 3D printing technology flourished, with more than a dozen new processes and corresponding 3D printing equipment emerging. 1991 saw the commercialization of Stratasys' FDM equipment, Cubital's Solid Ground Curing (SGC, Solid Ground Curing) equipment, and Helisys' LOM equipment; 1992 saw the commercialization of the DTM (now part of 3D Systems); and 1992 saw the launch of the SLA-250 (now part of 3D Systems). DTM's (now owned by 3D Systems) SLS technology was developed; in 1994, the German company EOS introduced the EOSINT selective laser sintering device; in 1996, 3D Systems used inkjet printing technology to build its first 3D printer, the Actua 2100; in the same year, Z Corp also released the Z402 3D printer. Overall, the United States in the development, production and sales of equipment dominates the world, and its level of development and trends basically represent the world's level of development and trends. Europe and Japan were not willing to lag behind, and have carried out related technical research and equipment development. At that time, although the University of Taiwan has LOM equipment, but Taiwan units and the military introduced the installation of SL series equipment, Hong Kong Productivity Council and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the City University of Hong Kong, etc. have RP equipment, which focuses on the application of the relevant technology and promotion.
3D printing technology, as one of the most advanced manufacturing methods, also represents the most cutting-edge science and technology in the world at present. Deng Xiaoping said that science and technology is the first productive force. The Party and the State have always attached importance to the development of science and technology industry. In the mid-1980s, the Party Central Committee and the State Council put forward the implementation of a high-tech research and development program, which has a significant impact on China's future economic and social development in biotechnology, information technology, automation technology, new materials technology, laser technology and many other areas, to establish a breakthrough focus on the 15 thematic projects as a breakthrough to track the world's advanced level. In this situation, the earliest domestic professional engaged in the field of 3D printing, Beijing Longyuan Automatic Forming Co., Ltd. was established in 1994, the company's registered capital of 2 million U.S. dollars, specializing in rapid prototyping equipment research and development and sales, and the year of its creation will be the successful manufacture of China's first SLS rapid prototyping equipment - AFS- 360.
3D printing technology and equipment level
In the research and development of equipment, Germany, the United States and Japan in the field of the world's leading level, and has formed a number of specialized and large-scale research and development and production of 3D printing equipment, well-known enterprises, such as Germany's EOS, the U.S. 3D Systems, and Japan's CMET company. Among them, 3D Systems produces the largest proportion of SLA equipment in the international market. The enterprise since 1988 has launched the SLA-250, 250HR, 3500, 5000, 7000 and Viper Pro System and other SLA equipment (the largest formation space up to 1500 × 750 × 550mm), and its main technical advantages for the long service life of the equipment (more than 5,000 hours), molding high precision (layer thickness up to 0.025mm), high molding efficiency. Japan's Denken Engineering and Autostrade break the SLA equipment to use ultraviolet light source routine, the first to use the 680nm wavelength of the semiconductor laser as a light source, greatly reducing the cost of SLA equipment. In terms of SLS equipment, Germany's EOS and the U.S. 3D Systems is the world's leading provider of this technology. Molding materials from the early polymer materials to expand to metal, ceramics and other functional materials, molding accuracy of about 0.1-0.2mm, molding space gradually increased, the largest table more than 500mm. in the metal direct 3D printing, the world has a number of mature equipment manufacturers, including the German EOS company (EOSING M270) and Concept laser (M Cusing series), MCP (Realizer series) and Acram (EBM equipment).
China began to enter the research and development of 3D printing from the early 1990s. Beijing Longyuan company since 1994, the development of the first successful laser rapid prototyping machine, has devoted to the development of selective laser powder sintering (SLS) rapid prototyping machine, and at the same time committed to rapid prototyping application processing services. Has launched the AFS-360, 500, laser Core-5100, 5300, 7000 and other models of SLS equipment (maximum molding space of 1400 × 700 × 400mm), currently has more than 110 equipment users and more than 100 processing service users, the market is mainly concentrated in the aerospace, automotive manufacturing, military and foundry industries.
Feng Tao, as the company's general manager and chief engineer, graduated from Tsinghua University and worked at the Institute of Polymer Materials of Tsinghua University, has rich theoretical and practical experience in polymer materials and laser optics, and is one of the earliest experts engaged in the research of laser rapid automatic molding technology in China. He has deep attainments in the application of 3D printing technology and materials. As early as 1995, he proposed the application of SLS to rapid precision manufacturing. Compared with other 3D printer technologies, the most outstanding advantage of SLS is the wide range of molding materials it uses. Theoretically, any powder material that can form interatomic bonding when heated can be used as the molding material for SLS. Currently, the materials that can be successfully molded by SLS include paraffin, polymer, metal, ceramic powders and their composite powders, and SLS is suitable for a wide range of applications due to its variety of molding materials, material savings, and wide distribution of molded part properties, as well as the fact that SLS does not require the design and manufacture of complex support systems. Under his leadership, Beijing Longyuan has successively succeeded in developing complex process production methods such as casting molten molds, wax mold pressing and casting shells, as well as the application methods of polystyrene powder and synthetic materials in 3D printing. Now, Feng Tao has started to study the application of metal powder in SLS technology, and has achieved certain results. In his opinion, realizing the use of high melting point metal direct sintering molding parts is of particular importance for the wider application of 3D printing technology in high-strength parts that are difficult to manufacture with traditional cutting and machining methods. Feng Tao believes that the research direction of SLS molding technology in the field of metal materials should be unit system metal parts sintering molding, sintering molding of multi-alloy material parts, advanced metal materials such as metal nanomaterials, amorphous metal alloys, such as laser sintering molding, etc., is particularly suitable for the molding of micro components of cemented carbide materials. In addition, parts with functional gradient and structural gradient are sintered and formed according to the specific functional and economic requirements of the parts. It is foreseeable that, with the mastery of laser sintering metal powder molding mechanism, the optimal sintering parameters of various metal materials to obtain, as well as the emergence of special rapid prototyping materials, the research and citation of SLS technology will certainly enter a new realm.
As the earliest company in China to realize the industrialization and servicing of 3D printing technology, Beijing Longyuan can be called the leader of China's 3D printing technology from the accumulated achievements in the application of 3D printing equipments and materials since its establishment and the promotion role it has played for the development of China's 3D printing industry:
In 1994, Longyuan successfully manufactured China's first SLS rapid prototyping equipment, specializing in rapid prototyping, which was used for the development of the 3D printing industry. In 1994, we successfully manufactured China's first SLS rapid prototyping equipment, specializing in the research and development and sales of rapid prototyping equipment; in 1995, we passed the expert appraisal organized by the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission; in 1997, we succeeded in the research of sintered materials for precision casting and rapid casting process, and entered into the field of rapid development of complex metal structural components; in 1998, we took part in the project of the Ministry of Science and Technology's Rapid Prototyping Demonstration Service Center, and the equipment was chosen by two service centers; in 2000 Successfully developed SLS-based rapid casting process for metal parts with complex internal cavity structure, laying the foundation for the rapid production of engine-type complex structural parts, and the direct molding technology for metal materials entered into the substantive development stage; in 2002, started to carry out research on direct manufacturing of metal parts by high-power laser with the China Academy of Engineering Physics; in 2004, cooperated with the South China University of Technology to carry out the selective zone laser melting Metal molding technology. At present, the density of 100% stainless steel and Ni-based alloy steel parts can be manufactured; in 2003, the launch of large-size rapid prototyping equipment AFS-450, hardware and software than the AFS-320 has 22 major improvements. The equipment is more stable, reliable, user-friendly, faster and more accurate, becoming the preferred equipment for corporate users; in 2005, the launch of AFS-500, molding size 125 liters, the formation of sales that year, and the launch of sintered fine casting wax that can be directly steam stripped, and the traditional precision casting seamless connection to solve the problem of rough surface of the titanium alloys rapid casting; in 2008, the development of the completion of the AFS- 700 molding equipment, molding size of 245 liters, was the largest size of the laser powder sintering equipment, to meet the requirements of the vast majority of precision casting size. The equipment adopts a new way of loading and spreading powder, which reduces the time of unidirectional powder spreading by half and eliminates the need for intermediate feeding. The equipment was sold in the same year; in 2009, the breakthrough of laser sintered sand was realized. The strength and gas generation of the molded sand core reached the casting requirements. Started the development of casting sintered sand molding of proprietary equipment laser core machine; 2010, Laser Core-5300 prototype development is completed, began test sales.
Wide range of applications for 3D printing technology
As an advanced manufacturing technology integrating optical/mechanical/electrical, computer, numerical control and new materials, 3D printing technology is now widely used in many fields such as aerospace, military and weaponry, automotive and motorsports, electronics, biomedicine, dentistry, jewelry, gaming, consumer goods and daily necessities, food, construction, education and so on. It is foreseeable that the technology will be more oriented towards the manufacturing of everyday consumer goods, the manufacturing of functional parts and the integrated manufacturing of tissues and structures. Below, we can take a peek at a few major areas where 3D printing technology is widely used.
Aerospace: Aerospace products have complex shapes, small batches, large differences in part specifications, reliability requirements, etc. The finalization of the product is a complex and precise process, which often requires multiple designs, tests and improvements, costing a lot of money and taking a long time, and is difficult to manufacture by traditional methods. Therefore, 3D printing technology has a unique application prospect in the research and development of modern aerospace products with its flexible and diverse process methods and technical advantages. In foreign countries, 3D printing technology has been applied in this field very early. For example: the United States Boeing Company will be 3D printing technology and traditional casting technology, manufacturing aluminum alloy, titanium alloy, stainless steel and other different materials such as cargo door bracket parts; General Motors Corporation application of 3D printing technology to manufacture aerospace and marine impeller and other key parts; Belgium Materialise company's Mammoth laser rapid prototyping system, the maximum size of its one-time processing up to 2200mm. In China, Beijing Longyuan, with its own technical advantages, provides the production and service of helicopter engines, helicopter magazines, worm gear pumps, titanium frames, exhaust ducts (maximum height up to 2,800mm), aircraft suspensions, flywheel housings and other aircraft parts and components for China's aerospace and aircraft manufacturers: in 1996, the first commercialized SLS rapid prototyping machine was sold to the Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials. Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials, and was successfully applied to the development of new products for military aviation; in 1999, the second generation of commercialized equipment, AFS-320, was successfully introduced to the market. The application of rapid prototyping has gradually unfolded, and participated in the completion of a number of key national aerospace projects, such as: liquid oxygen-kerosene and liquid oxygen-liquid hydrogen engines for high-thrust rockets, and satellite gyroscope frames.
Military industry: 3D printing technology and traditional manufacturing technology, compared with simple, easy to operate and so on, especially for the processing of some new materials, the results are particularly significant. For example, aluminum alloy has been the most widely used metal structure material in the military industry. Aluminum alloy has the characteristics of low density, high strength, good corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, etc. As a structural material, due to its excellent processing performance, it can be made into various cross-sectional profiles, tubes, high-bar plates, etc., in order to give full play to the potential of the material and to improve the stiffness of the components. Therefore, aluminum alloy is the lightweight structural material preferred for weapon lightweighting. The U.S. military has applied 3D printing technology to assist in the manufacture of pop-up igniter models for missiles, and has achieved good results. In China, titanium alloy has been widely used in self-propelled artillery turrets, components, armored vehicles, tanks, military helicopters, etc. In 1999, Beijing Longyuan Automatic Forming Co., Ltd. used 3D printing technology to participate in the completion of a number of national military industrial key projects development and development tasks, such as: JS-II type new tank turbocharger, infrared guidance instrument observation mirror shells, etc.; in 2002, began to In 2002, it began to carry out research with the China Academy of Engineering Physics on high-power laser direct manufacturing of metal parts, thus further promoting the development of China's military industry.
Automobile manufacturing: in foreign countries, 3D printing technology in the field of automobile manufacturing has been a lot of successful cases, such as Germany's Audi Automobile Company (Audi) using 3D printing technology to successfully use the KUKA robot to manufacture the Audi RSQ car. With the development of China's automobile industry, the rapid growth of automobile production, some key components are increasingly complex, large-scale and lightweight, which requires the realization of parts and components of the overall and integrated manufacturing. The use of molds for sand molding traditional process, making the mold more and more complex, the number of live blocks has also increased dramatically, these factors to a certain extent have constrained the development of China's automotive industry. For this reason, the technical team of Beijing Longyuan, which leads the domestic 3D printing technology, has launched the research of 3D printing technology in the field of automobile engine manufacturing. SLS is the use of infrared laser beams to provide heat to melt thermoplastic materials to form three-dimensional parts, and one of its biggest features is that the molding process has nothing to do with the degree of complexity, and therefore it is especially suitable for the internal structure of the engine cylinder block, cylinder head, intake and exhaust pipes and other components that are extremely complex. components. In addition, SLS technology molding materials, especially with casting resin sand and disappearable mold material molding, therefore, can be combined with casting technology, rapid casting of engine parts. the combination of SLS technology and casting technology, derived from the rapid casting technology, can be effectively applied to engine design and development stage of the prototype of the rapid manufacturing. Its suitability for single-piece and small batch trial production and production characteristics, can quickly respond to the market and provide small quantities of products for testing and experimentation, help to ensure the speed of product development. The controllability of its molding process allows for instant modifications at low cost during the design development stage in order to check designs or provide assembly models. It helps to improve the quality of product development. The multiplicity of its rapid prototyping raw materials provides different process combinations at the product development stage, which helps to reduce development costs due to the localization of SLS raw materials and the molding process that can be organically combined with the traditional process. The rapidity of its combination process supports the increase in the frequency of product updates and helps to promote the early entry of products into the market. The use of 3D printing technology for automobile manufacturers to produce engine blocks, cylinder heads, gearbox shells, etc., not only fast manufacturing speed and high precision, thus making the manufacture of complex automotive parts and components to become digital, precision, flexible and green. Nowadays, Longyuan's products can be seen in the engines of many domestic high-speed railroads, moving trains and subways. The following are the R&D achievements of Longyuan in the application of automobile engines: in 2001, the research on rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing process of key structural parts of automobiles was successful, and it began to provide automobile enterprises with RP services for cylinder block, cylinder head, intake pipe and gearbox shell; in 2006, the technology of laser direct molding casting sand core was introduced to the market, and the first molding equipment dedicated to the casting of sand cores was sold. And successfully used in the rapid development of automotive engine block, cylinder head and supercharger; in 2011, in order to meet the needs of diesel engines and other industries, began to develop large-size laser core machine; through cooperation with Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Co., Ltd. and Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle Crafts Institute, the development of diesel cylinder block cylinder head of the rapid manufacturing methods and processes, etc..
Biomedicine: At present, 3D printing technology is also applied to the field of biomedicine, including bones, teeth, artificial liver, artificial blood vessels, pharmaceutical manufacturing. In terms of bio-manufacturing, developed countries such as Europe and the United States have more research, wider scope and have achieved clinical applications: in the United States, the use of SLA manufacturing technology, the use of biocompatible resins can be made for medical hearing aids, eye crystal models, artificial teeth, etc.; in Italy, the use of SLA manufacturing technology has been used to create a human bone repair body. In China, Beijing Longyuan cooperates with Peking University Stomatological Hospital, which transmits patients' CT scan data from CT workstation to PC through Magics software processing, burns and stores them in standard format (Dicom format), and then provides them to Longyuan, which develops and researches AFS-320 rapid prototyping machine accordingly. This equipment adopts the selective laser powder sintering method, and the raw material is polystyrene powder, which is made into a solid model, and can be used in oral healthcare for symptoms such as abnormal bone fiber hyperplasia of zygomatic maxilla, and has achieved very good curative effect. Meanwhile, in the treatment of obsolete zygomatic zygomatic arch comminuted fracture, the results of clinical application showed good therapeutic effect. At present, Longyuan has reached a new round of cooperation intention with Peking University Stomatological Hospital, i.e. professional rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing program in the field of dentistry: the use of specific CAD software can realize the CAD design of denture, including 3D design of tooth base, crown, bridge, hooded crown, veneer, and dental onlay. With CAD design, rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing of dentures can be automated, with high results, fewer consumables and lower costs.
The prospects and strategic significance of 3D printing technology
At present, many countries and regions of the world (the back of the hair can not be sent, look at the URL / 278744987#!app=2&via=QZ.HashRefresh&pos=1356053030)