1,Breaking the limits of physics: a revolution of manufacturing of complex shaped structures freely
The traditional subtractive manufacturing is restricted by the tool access and clamping rigidity and is generally helpless to cope with complex geometric shapes like internal flow channels and lattice structures. Metal 3D Printing has totally erased this limitation with additive, layer by layer processes. The rocket engine thrust chamber developed by Platinum Technology for commercial aerospace enterprises can be used as a typical example, the conventional method needs to weld and install more than 20 components including cooling channel, combustion chamber, and nozzle. But 3D printed technology has realized bulk molding, scrap reduced from 15% to 8%, and thrust enhanced by 20%. Meanwhile, the time taken for development has been reduced from 18 months to 6 months.
This comparative edge is particularly strong within the medical sector. Traditional manufacturing of custom-made titanium alloy implants for bone defect individual therapy depends on data acquisition obtained by CT scans and up to 12 processes such as mold making, casting, machining, etc., and requires 4-6 weeks. Directly translating patient bone data into a 3D model, metal 3D printing has the potential to turn the process from conception to the final finished product around in 48 hours. Topology optimized the designed lattice structure, the implant weight decreased by 60%, and the bone bond rate increased by 40%.
2, Refactor the Cost Model ： Economic Tipping Point of Small Batch Customization right (0)BTTag： small batch automation customization of the Internet 7categories small batch automation customization of the Internet time(Introduction to content requirements and applicability) RTAL + clique inAs you wish (4)11: this cl
Note: the production of industrial automation equipment early also has been troubled by the "diseconomies of scale", ordinary mold costs just several yuan or more than 10 million yuan, directly lead to single-piece customization of higher cost. The "digital mold" attribute is something that has fundamentally upturned this cost relationship for metal 3D printing. For example, for the Tianhong Laser TH-M150 equipment(in the market), the printing speed is 20cm/h, which isn't as fast as large-scale injection molding, but in short-run production, where there is no mold investment, the small batch order cost is reduced by 65%. Here is some real case data from a non-standard automation equipment integrator: 3D printed production of 50 sets components for a robotic arm joints, the overall costs are 38% lower than traditional methods, and the delivery cycle is shortened from 45 days to 15 days.
This economic benefit becomes very clear in the aerospace sector. By 3D printing LEAP engine fuel nozzles, 20 piece parts are reduced to one, and the weight is decreased by 25%, annual output was improved from 1000 pieces following the traditional process method to 16000 pieces, and the unit cost was reduced by 55%. This uncovers an important trend, which is, 3D printing has an absolute advantage in the comprehensive cost'model when the amount of production batch is limited less than 200.
3, Changing the way we do R&D: Design verification to Real-time iteration
In industrial automation equipment research and development, the prototype verification work is the key part of whether the project succeed or not. the traditional manual production process is quite cumbersome with many testing, such as plastic prototype printing, metal sample CNC machining and functional testing, but the by metal 3D printing the design files can be direct transferred into functional parts. The example of Suzhou Tianhong Laser is very typical, its TH-M400 equipment can process can shorten the printing cycle of printing the complex structural part with a diameter of 406mm to 48 hours, with the aid of the online detection system, achieve "printing detection modification" closed loop iteration, shorten a certain type of industrial robot joint R&D cycle from 9 months to 3 months, R&D cost declined by 42%.
This rapid agile construction method is redefining the competitive landscape of the industry. A new energy vehicle company used 3D printing to validate the light-weighted plan of battery trays, and three generations of R&D iterations were completed in six months. The end product resulted in a 35% weight reduction versus conventional aluminum die-cast, and competitors, which applied traditional methods, have not yet reached the design phase for similar projects.
4,Material Science Breated Through: High Performance Alloy Printing Freedom
The early metal 3D printing techniques were constrained by material and were traditionally used for non load bearing structural parts. With the development of PM technology \, POWDER TO POWER support mainstream power to print out 12 kinds of high performance material, for example : titanium alloy \, nickel based high temperature alloy \, cobalt chromium molybdenum. The fine-grained titanium alloy powder developed by Platinum Technology has reached 92% of the fatigue strength of the forged part in the printed part, and has been successfully applied to the key parts of C919 aircraft landing gear.
Printing of the functionally graded materials is an even more revolutionary advance. Gradient changes in material composition is achieved by employing multiple nozzles or controlling powder bed layer deposition. The custom 3D printed endoprosthesis from medical company is primarily composed of high wear-resisting cobalt chromium alloy material on the contacting side, titanium alloy internally, etc. The long-term constructed design of the prosthesis extends the process service to 25 years, 60% more than traditional.
5,The distributed manufacturing network: rebuilding the global supply chain
The "digital manufacturing" nature of metal 3D printing makes it naturally favorable for distributed production. An example of a multinational automated equipment manufacturer: after this company has a new sensor housing built at its Germany headquarters, it transferred the design data to the cloud, and then sent the data to the Chinese, Mexican and Indian 3D printing service centers to simultaneously develop global retail outlets within 72 hours, saving more than 85% compared with the traditional sea freight mode both in settling cost and in time. This 'local design global printing' approach is transforming the industrial automation equipment supply chain.
The real hit is for change in the support and maintenance regime. – A local drilling platform can 3D print the splitting hydraulic valve body and directly on-site this cut downtime for maintenance from 21 days to 72 hours; – A mining company has setup a spare parts digital library and uses portable metal printers since then, it expands the comprehensive utilization rate of equipment by 18%; This "digital spare parts" concept is changing industrial automation equipment maintenance from preventional maintenance to predictive maintenance.