Speaking of 3D printing technology, you must be no stranger. We have long been used to 3D printing portraits, electronic parts, clothing, shoes and so on. But do you know what 3D printing is? 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM) or rapid prototyping (PR), is a technology based on digital model files to construct entities by solidifying fusible materials in the form of powder or liquid layer by layer. The essence of 3D printing is manufacturing, not printing. The 3D printing process generally includes four steps: data acquisition, data processing, 3D printing and post-processing. The first two steps mainly involve software and optical imaging technology, and the third step involves materials, machinery, and electronics. The first three steps complement each other. Problems in any link will affect the final result of printing. The post-processing steps are more traditional processing methods to improve the appearance and performance of printed items. There are eight common mainstream 3D printing technologies
, let's see which technologies we use:
The first is "selective laser sintering" (SLS). The materials used are nylon, metal powder, PS powder and resin sand. The powder is turned into a tightly bonded whole through sintering rather than melting it into liquid. After 12-14 hours of cooling, the remaining powder is covered again by laser, and then the remaining layer is recovered.
The second technology is "selective laser melting" (SLM). The materials used are titanium alloy, cobalt chromium alloy, stainless steel and aluminum alloy. The metal powder is melted by high-energy ytterbium fiber laser to form multi-purpose three-dimensional parts.
The third technology is called "electron beam melting molding" (EBM). The materials used are titanium alloy. It is an additive technology that uses high-energy electron beam to selectively bombard metal powder, so as to melt powder materials
The printing materials used in the fourth "melt deposition" (FDM) are polylactic acid and ABS plastics. This technology extrudes the fuse of filamentous materials, such as thermal plastics, wax or metal, from the heated nozzle and deposits the melt at a fixed rate according to the predetermined trajectory of each layer of the part.
The fifth technology is called "multi head jet" (MJP), and the commonly used materials are resin, wax, etc. A variety of materials can be used in the printing process. During printing, the nozzle sprays molding materials and supporting materials. For the types of plastics and dental equipment, the supporting material is wax and the molding material is UV cured acrylate plastic.
The sixth printing technology is called "three-dimensional printing technology" (3DP). The material used is gypsum powder. The printer using three-dimensional printing technology uses standard inkjet printing technology to lay on the thin layer of powder through liquid connector, and create each part layer by layer by printing cross-sectional data to create three-dimensional solid model.
The seventh material used for "three-dimensional lithography" (SLA) is photosensitive resin. The laser with specific wavelength and intensity is focused on the surface of the light curing material to solidify it from point to line and from line to surface, so as to complete the drawing operation of one layer, and then the lifting table moves the height of one layer in the vertical direction, and then solidifies another layer, In this way, layers are superimposed to form a three-dimensional entity.
How to select printer type for 3D printer equipment the last technology is called "digital light processing" (DLP), which uses photosensitive resin. It is similar to the dlefp (liquid laser curing) technology for layer by layer photolithography, but it uses the dlefp technology for high-resolution photolithography
The above are the eight common mainstream technologies. At present, the advantages of 3D printing technology determine that it is mainly used in small batch, customization, high difficulty, innovative design, product research and development and other scenes. 3D printing has the following advantages: 1. It can be complex and personalized production. 2. It can be formed at one time to reduce processes. 3. Add materials for manufacturing and save raw materials. 4. Optimize design and shorten cycle