Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four departments have issued the implementation plan for the "three products" of the raw material industry. The goal is that by 2025, the variety of raw materials will be more abundant, the quality will be more stable, and the brand will be more influential. Products and services such as superalloys, high-performance special alloys, semiconductor materials, high-performance fibers, and composite materials have significantly enhanced their support capabilities in key areas.
Superalloy materials are important manufacturing raw materials for aerospace engines, accounting for 40%-60% of the total weight of the engine. They are mainly used in engine combustion chambers, guides, turbine blades, turbine disks, tail nozzles, and casings. Secondly, superalloys have excellent properties such as high-temperature resistance and corrosion resistance and are also widely used in the gas turbine, petrochemical, industrial and automotive fields. In recent years, my country's superalloy industry has developed rapidly driven by downstream demand, and the market is facing huge demand growth space and import substitution space.
Problems existing in traditional superalloy manufacturing
Superalloys refer to a class of metal materials based on iron, cobalt, and nickel that can work for a long time at high temperatures above 600 ° C and under certain stress, also known as "superalloys". It has excellent high-temperature strength, good fatigue properties, fracture toughness, and other comprehensive properties. Originally developed for gas turbine components in turbojet engines, they are now widely used in aerospace and energy.
Manufacturing has traditionally been the "Achilles heel" of superalloy applications. The manufacturing process window is narrow, and the final part is usually machined after a lengthy and expensive process. In today's society, people still use the precision investment casting process dating back to ancient times. Precision casting involves multiple chemistries and process controls. Large amounts of scrap are generated during casting and subsequent machining of parts. In the case of turbine blades, only about 10% of the superalloy ends up in the final product.
In addition, the production process of superalloys is relatively complex. The entire process includes thousands of parameters such as temperature, humidity, pressure, and current. Problems in any link will affect the quality and stability of the product. Taking machining as an example, because superalloys contain more active elements such as chromium and aluminum, they are prone to chemical instability in an oxidative, overheated, and corrosive environment. If the manufacturing process cannot be achieved, difficulties such as poor machinability, large cutting deformation, work hardening tendency, easy tool wear, and surface quality, and easily ensure accuracy are likely to occur in the processing process.
3D printing will become a new preparation process for superalloys
As a new material forming method, 3D printing can fundamentally change the processing process of superalloys, which not only reduces the manufacturing steps but also saves a lot of materials. This gives engineers a higher degree of design freedom, making hollow, lattice, and foam structures possible compared to subtractive manufacturing. The current mainstream superalloy 3D printing molding process is laser powder bed fusion technology. Under the conditions of laser and computer-aided manufacturing, the material can be formed point by point and layer by layer. Through a reasonable combination of process parameters, it can be directly melted and sintered to obtain high-density samples.
JR has rich practical experience in the metal 3D printing industry and has successfully solved the 3D printing of automobiles, aerospace, and other aspects for customers from more than 50 different countries. Our company mainly uses professional EOS metal 3D printers. Through DMSL/SLM 3D printing technology, it solves the parts of customers in the early stage of product development, proof of concept, and end products. Secondly, we provide many kinds of metal printing materials, such as Titanium Alloys, Tungsten Alloy, Copper Copper Alloys, Aluminum Alloy, High - Strength Steel, Stainless Steel, Superalloys, etc.
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