3D printing has attracted a lot of attention over the years. It has played an important role in promoting the future development of manufacturing enterprises. At the same time, it is also an advanced manufacturing technology integrating machinery, computers, numerical control, and materials. If you also have model making or spare parts to be processed, please contact us.

Detailed anatomy for 3D printing

Principle:

the basic principle of this technology is to make layer-by-layer manufacturing based on the 2-D cross-section data obtained by slicing 3-D solid parts, using points, lines, or surfaces as basic units, and finally, obtaining solid parts or prototypes.

Advantage:

Just export the CAD design to STL file format, transfer it to the 3D printer, and it can be formed in one shot. Some complex curved surfaces or special-shaped structures that cannot be processed by traditional machining can be completed by 3D printers, and there is no need to consider the fixture and its professional programming and duty personnel. It should be noted that the production of high-complexity and diverse objects will not increase the cost. In fact, the cost of 3D printing equipment to manufacture a complex-shaped object is the same as printing a simple block.

Disadvantage:

One of the stumbling blocks for 3D printing is the limited materials needed. Although high-end industrial printing can print plastics, some metals, or ceramics, some materials are expensive and scarce. The current 3D printing technology has achieved a certain level in reconstructing the geometry and function of objects but is limited by factors such as materials and printing equipment, 3D printing needs to be further improved in terms of accuracy and speed.

Equipment:

At this stage, the 3D printing equipment on the market mainly includes two categories: industrial-grade 3D printers and desktop-grade 3D printers. Industrial-grade 3D printers are usually used for mass production, and most of the customers are from modeling manufacturers, large enterprises, and manufacturing subcontractors; the desktop-grade 3D printer market is more concentrated in the fields of education, manufacturing, and simple model production. Primary and secondary schools, makers, designers, etc. The entire system of the 3D printer is a mechatronics system integrating machinery, control, and computer technology. Its system is mainly composed of an X-Y-Z motion system, numerical control module, nozzle structure, molding environment module, and so on.

Application:

application fields of 3D printing now include medical, marine, transportation, toys, automobiles, aerospace, civil engineering, clothing and footwear, and many other fields. For example, at this stage, the application of 3D printing technology in the railway field is mainly concentrated in the production and manufacture of rail vehicle parts. When using 3D printing technology to produce spare parts, additional technologies such as selective laser melting and selective laser sintering are used. According to these additional technologies, the small parts on the photosensitive plate are connected to each other to form a 3D image of the existing shape.

Market size

According to “Wohlers Report 2020” data, in 2019, in the global 3D printing industry structure, the revenue from additive manufacturing products was 5.043 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 22.3%. Revenue from additive manufacturing services was likely to be $6.823 billion, an increase of 20.3% year over year. With the increasingly urgent demand for flexible manufacturing and refined manufacturing, the market scale of the 3D printing industry will further expand.

Development trend:

Some analysts believe that the development of the 3D printing industry will show the following trends: First, the scale and the output value of the 3D printing industry will continue to increase, and it will accelerate into a new stage of development; second, industrial-grade 3D printing will become the core direction of the market, the equipment sales showed a rapid upward trend. Third, traditional manufacturing companies will enter the field of 3D printing equipment and materials strongly, and the competition in the industry will become increasingly fierce. Fourth, the fields of aerospace and medical equipment will become important areas for the development of the 3D printing industry.