3D printing technology appeared in the mid-1990s. It is actually a rapid prototyping device using technologies such as light curing and paper lamination. It works on the same principle as an ordinary printer. The printer is filled with "printing materials" such as liquid or powder. After being connected to the computer, the "printing materials" are superimposed layer by layer through computer control, and finally the blueprint on the computer is turned into a physical object. This technology is now used in many fields, and people use it to make clothing, architectural models, cars, chocolate desserts, etc.

Process Principle

The printing process of each layer is divided into two steps. First, spray a layer of special glue on the area that needs to be formed. The glue liquid

drops itself. Very small and difficult to spread. Then spray a uniform layer of powder. When the powder encounters glue, it will quickly solidify and bond, while the areas without glue will remain loose. In this way, by alternating one layer of glue and one layer of powder, the physical model will be "printed" into shape. After printing, the loose powder can be "planed" out by simply sweeping away the loose powder, and the remaining powder can be recycled. [2]

Printing consumables have changed from traditional ink and paper to glue and powder. Of course, glue and powder are special processed materials, which not only have requirements for curing reaction speed, but also for model strength and "printing" "Resolution has a direct impact. 3D printing technology can achieve 600dpi resolution, and the thickness of each layer is only 0.01 mm. Even if there are text or pictures on the surface of the model, it can be printed clearly. Limited by the principle of inkjet printing, the printing speed is bound to not be very fast. The more advanced products can achieve a vertical speed of 25 mm per hour, which is 10 times higher than the early products, and can use colored glue to achieve color printing with high color depth. Up to 24 bits.

Due to the high printing accuracy, the quality of the printed models is naturally good. In addition to the design that can express the appearance curve, the structure and moving parts are also not mentioned. If used to print mechanical assembly drawings, gears, bearings, tie rods, etc. can move normally, and the morphological features such as cavities and grooves are accurately positioned and can even meet assembly requirements. The printed entities can also be polished, drilled, and electroplated. further processing. At the same time, powder materials are not limited to sand mold materials, but other materials such as elastic expansion and contraction, high-performance composite, investment casting, etc. are also available.

Advantages

The charm of 3D printing technology is that it does not need to be operated in a factory. Desktop printers can print out small items,

Moreover, people can put them in In a corner of an office, in a store, or even in a house; larger items such as bicycle frames, car steering wheels, and even airplane parts require larger printers and more storage space.

The most prominent advantage of 3D printing technology is that it can generate parts of any shape directly from computer graphics data without mechanical processing or any molds, thus greatly shortening the product development cycle, improving productivity and reducing production costs. cost.

Compared with traditional technology, 3D printing technology also has the following advantages: it reduces costs by eliminating production lines; it greatly reduces material waste; and it can also create shapes that cannot be produced by traditional production technology. , allowing people to design aircraft wings or heat exchangers more efficiently; in addition, with good design concepts and design processes, 3D printing technology can also simplify the manufacturing process and produce individual items quickly, effectively and cheaply .

Three-dimensional printing technology has other important advantages. Most metal and plastic parts are designed for production, which means they can be very bulky and contain leftovers related to manufacturing but not their function. This is not the case with 3D printing technology. In 3D printing technology, raw materials are only used to produce the required products. "Using 3D printing technology, his team can produce parts that are more delicate and lighter. When there are no production restrictions on materials, they can be realized in an optimized way." functionality, resulting in printed products that are 60% lighter and just as strong as machine-made parts

Application Development

People are already printing using this technology. Lampshades, body parts, jewelry, football boots customized according to players' feet, racing parts, solid-state batteries, and customized mobile phones, violins, etc. Some people have even used this technology to create mechanical equipment. For example, in Massachusetts, the United States. Peter Schmidt, a doctoral student at the Institute of Technology (MIT), printed an object similar to the clock his grandparents used. After several attempts, he finally used a printer to print a plastic clock and hang it on the wall. On the wall, as a result, the clock began to tick.

The application fields of 3D printers are also expanding with technological advancements. American scientists have developed products that can print skin, cartilage, bones and other parts of the body. Three-dimensional "bioprinters" of organs. People also use 3D printers to create and repair sculptures, create three-dimensional objects made of plastics and polymers, and print out food.

Three-dimensional printing technology precludes use. Tooling, machining and hand processing, and modifying technical details with great efficiency, the same techniques are used by Gordon Murray Design to help build the avant-garde T.25 urban "eco car". The car was launched in July 2010.

A scientific research team affiliated with the European Aerospace Defense Group (EADS) is working on using this technology to print out the entire wing of an aircraft. As of March 2011, researchers have used this technology to manufacture aircraft landing gear brackets and other aircraft parts. The printed brackets are the same size as a shoe

Some people in the industry believe that 3D printing The impact of technology on manufacturing will be comparable to the impact of inkjet printers on document printing. The invention of movable type in the 15th century transformed handwriting into printed form. Printing presses, like those capable of mass production, are efficient at producing copies of the same item, but they are not as efficient at printing personalized documents. Later, inkjet printers made printing easier, cheaper, and more personal. Today, although traditional printers still print a large number of books, newspapers, etc., more printing tasks are undertaken by inkjet printers, which can print out books, labels, photos, etc. on demand.

Three-dimensional printing