3D Printing Services & Prototyping Solutions

Rapid Prototyping Services have been involved in all aspects of life and industrial production, since the development of 3D printing technology has been highly watched. The emergence of 3D printer has provided potential opportunities for development in many areas. It has produced great economic benefits in practical applications, especially in industrial manufacturing. The application and research of 3D printing technology are mainly concentrated in aerospace, electronics, medical and so on. Precision parts processing and repair areas.

 1) 3D printing technology has been applied to the field of large castings and forgings

Large-scale casting and forging products, such as thermal power spindle, nuclear head, turbine blades and other weight at every turn hundreds of tons, and the current metal 3D printing technology average 1kg / h processing speed and cost per thousand dollars, The use of large-scale casting and forging the overall 3D prototyping services to complete the manufacture of large castings and forgings can not be achieved. However, this is not to say that 3D printing technology can not be widely used in the field of large castings and forgings.

As long as the application properly, 3D printing technology can also be like casting, forging and welding, as a large castings and forgings manufacturing indispensable important production process, and in large-scale casting and forging industry, technological innovation, cost reduction, quality improvement process important role. This paper analyzes the application direction of the future 3D printing technology in the field of large-scale castings and forgings based on iron-based metal by referring to the research results of other metal and nonmetallic 3D printing technology in other fields, so as to analyze the application of large-scale casting and forging industry Development to provide reference.

3D printing Titanium alloy large overall bearing structure and other large parts of the metal material properties can be achieved or close to the level of forgings. 3D printing technology repair turbofan engine blade technology to achieve the 3D printing services and parts of the matrix with the performance of the region to meet the requirements of parts. Compared with the traditional welding, metal 3D print repair has the following characteristics:

(1) the heat affected zone is small, does not affect the matrix tissue stress distribution;

(2) no heating and subsequent heat treatment;

(3) 3D printing organization and matrix metallurgy combined with dense, close to the original parts of the original performance;

(4) 3D printing area organization performance to achieve the level of forging;

(5) automatic control, less processing margin.

Large forgings on the surface and the internal defects, due to lack of material caused by the lack of forgings and other quality problems, may lead to the overall scrap forging, resulting in huge economic losses and energy waste. As the performance of welded tissue is lower than the forging organization, forgings generally do not allow welding, and the emergence of metal 3D printing technology can change the status quo. At present, some of the properties of metal 3D printing has been able to achieve the level of forgings, if the combination of 3D printing organization and forging matrix to meet the requirements of forgings, you can use 3D printing technology to repair large areas of forgings defect area, thereby improving the forging pass rate. In the future, with the improvement of 3D printing technology, similar to large castings to allow welding, the large forgings also allow 3D print repair, which for large forgings production process will be a revolutionary breakthrough.

Generator rotor, turbine blades, marine crankshaft and other large parts in the course of the use of local cracks, wear and deformation problems such as failure, the traditional welding methods need to be CNC machined → preheating → welding → machining → heat treatment and other processes to repair. Repair work needs to be carried out on large-scale professional equipment, but the repair area performance is lower than the original parts of the organization, an increase of maintenance costs, maintenance cycle, maintenance effect is not ideal. The use of robots and 3D printing technology combined with the portable removable metal 3D printing equipment can change the status quo, to achieve large parts of the site repair, and even online repair.

2) 3D printing in the field of medical applications

In recent years, prosthetic science has been the rapid development of the software robot research has played a great help. Swiss researchers have shown that the same technique used to make robotic flexible arms can also be used to make more complex and delicate human organs, such as the heart, and the problem of making artificial hearts is that metal and plastic mechanisms are difficult to Fusion, or because they are not natural way of movement and damage the blood. The team led by Nicholas Cohrs, a Ph.D. student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, has created what they call the world’s first software artificial heart, and the pumping mechanism in its silicon chamber works like a real heart.

Of course, it is not exactly the same as the real heart, the heart of the artificial heart is not between the valve, but inflatable and deflated in order to produce the role of the ventricle, and it is completely sealed. This artificial heart is made by 3D printing, which allows researchers to create complex internal structures using soft, tough materials. The whole heart is basically a whole, so there is no need to worry about how different internal mechanisms are combined, except for the input and output ports where the blood is in and out. This is a good example of 3D rapid prototyping services in the medical field.

In the test, this heart is running well, can be similar to the blood of the liquid pump to the body. This artificial heart belongs to the concept of proof of the product, not for the actual implant and print, so the manufacture of its materials can not support thousands of times the “heartbeat”. It can support about half an hour, it depends on your heart rate. If it breaks within the specified time, it means that your heartbeat may be quite fast. But it is clear that the researchers plan to use better materials and design to create a heart that can work longer.

“As a mechanical engineer, I never thought I could hold a soft heart in my hand,” said Anastasios Petrou, an assistant professor of artificial heart testing at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. This study is very fascinating and very much hope to continue to participate in the development of artificial heart.