Abstract 2014 World 3D Printing Technology Industry Conference & Expo was held in Qingdao from 19th to 22nd. More than 110 3D printing companies and more than 1,200 experts and representatives from 12 countries and regions attended the conference. Judging from the situation at the meeting, China 3...
The 2014 World 3D Printing Technology Industry Conference & Expo was held in Qingdao from 19th to 22nd. More than 110 3D printing companies and more than 1,200 experts and representatives from 12 countries and regions attended the conference. Judging from the situation at the meeting, China's 3D printing market has broad prospects, but it has a large gap with foreign countries, and its development faces three major bottlenecks. 3D printing technology has broad application prospects
In recent years, 3D printing technology has become a hot word as a cutting-edge advanced manufacturing technology. According to Luo Jun, secretary general of the World 3D Printing Technology Industry Alliance, since the 1980s, 3D printing technology has gone through 30 years of experience, and has begun to take shape in technology research and development and production, and has gradually opened up the market.
3D printing technology is based on computer three-dimensional design model. Through software layered discrete and numerical control molding system, special materials such as metal powder, ceramic powder, plastic and cell tissue are layer-by-layer bonded by laser beam and hot melt nozzle. And finally superimposed to create a physical product. Compared with the traditional manufacturing industry, the 3D printing greatly reduces the manufacturing complexity by shaping and cutting the raw materials by means of machining, such as mold and milling. The US "Time" magazine listed 3D printing as "the ten fastest growing industries in the United States", and the British "Economist" believes that it will "cooperate with other digital production models to promote the third industrial revolution."
According to the data of the World 3D Printing Technology Industry Alliance, in 2012, the output value of the world 3D printing industry was 12 billion to 13 billion yuan, and the domestic value was about 1 billion yuan. In 2013, the world 3D printing industry produced more than 3 billion US dollars, and 300 million domestically. The US dollar is expected to exceed US$6 billion this year and its domestic production value will reach US$600 million. It is estimated that in 2016, the global scale will exceed 10 billion US dollars, and domestic 10 billion yuan. By 2020, 3D printing technology will be fully industrialized.
Experts attending the conference generally believe that 3D printing is not a substitute for traditional manufacturing, but it is a useful supplement to traditional manufacturing. China has long been the largest manufacturing country in the world, but the deep-seated contradictions accumulated in the long-term manufacturing industry have become increasingly prominent. 3D printing is hailed as an important part of the third industrial revolution and one of the means of achieving high-end manufacturing. The continuous maturity of 3D printing technology can promote the pace of China's industrial restructuring and improve the manufacturing level.
At present, 3D printing technology has been widely used in many fields such as industrial design, mold manufacturing, etc., and is also accelerating in the fields of consumer product manufacturing, functional component manufacturing, organization and structural integration manufacturing, showing a broad application prospect. The most outstanding advantage of 3D printing technology is that it does not require machining or any molds, which can effectively reduce the cost of prototypes and shorten the cycle. In addition, 3D printing can help companies produce more complex and faster products, increase product value and reduce overall costs.
3D printing development faces three major bottlenecks
The emergence of 3D printing technology has brought a new production mode to human beings, challenging the overall industrial pattern and the concept of large-scale production methods. However, the current development of 3D printing technology faces three major bottlenecks such as materials, cost and economies of scale, which are difficult to solve in the short term.
First, the material bottleneck. Wang Hong, general manager of Shandong Unisys, said that consumables play a decisive role in the application and development of 3D printing technology, and current 3D printing technology has advanced the material. At present, the consumables used in 3D printing are very limited. The existing consumables on the market are mostly PLA (biodegradable plastic polylactic acid), ABS resin, rubber, gypsum, plastic, bondable powder particles, etc., and the prices of imported materials remain high. . Moreover, most of the consumables are mainly used in light industrial products such as models and toys. They are far from the fields of automobiles and aviation. Although some metal consumables are used, large-scale production and material ratio are all problems.
Second, the cost bottleneck. The current cost of 3D printing is high, mainly due to the high cost of equipment. According to Zhang Qun of 3D Systems of the United States, the main 3D printers in the market are mainly divided into three categories: the first category is personal (desktop), which is small in size and easy to operate. The price ranges from $1,300 to $20,000. The second category is professional, with a price range of US$20,000 to US$350,000. It is mainly used for engineering and technical personnel, including engineers and designers at the departmental level of small and medium-sized enterprises and large companies. The third category is production, and the price is Between $250,000 and $950,000, these printers are the most demanding in the 3D printing industry today, typically used in aerospace, medical, automotive, and other fields.
In addition to the high price of 3D printers, the manufacturing cost of individual products remains unresolved. The use of 3D printers to make goods without the economies of scale makes the cost of manufacturing a single item much higher than the cost of manufacturing. In the early stage of 3D printing, a large amount of investment is required, and the return on capital is not optimistic, and it is difficult to attract capital forces to join on a large scale. In addition, 3D printing is slower, and printing a more complicated product often takes days or even months.
Third, the scale bottleneck. 3D printing promotion is also faced with the constraints of the traditional pattern. The large-scale production advantage of traditional manufacturing is repetitive manufacturing and standardization, while 3D printing is beneficial for personalization and customization. The current demand aggregation is based on scale, and it is very difficult for ordinary enterprises and individuals to complete demand aggregation based on personalization and customization.
The gap between China and foreign countries is hard to come by
The United States and Europe are leading the way in the development and application of 3D printing technology. According to statistics, according to the statistics of the country, the number of 3D printers for industrial use, the United States accounted for 38%, ranking first, followed by Japan, accounting for 9.7%; the third Germany accounted for 9.4%, the fourth China accounted for 8.7%.
The United States is a leader in 3D printing technology and applications, and the government's attention is an important support for the rapid development of 3D printing in the United States. In 2012, US President Barack Obama proposed a series of development programs for the US manufacturing industry, including 3D printing as one of 11 important technologies, and jointly established R&D institutions, universities, and manufacturers to establish “National Additive Manufacturing†innovation. The center has introduced a large number of talents for R&D and production. At present, the products of the 3D system and Stratasys in the United States occupy the majority of the market share. GE has also made breakthroughs in the field of aero engines. Last year, it officially announced that 3D printed fuel nozzles are certified to aviation standards and will be assembled on the next model.
Europe also attaches great importance to the development and application of 3D printing technology. Germany's EOS is also the world's leading supplier of industrial-grade 3D printers. It currently sells more than 1,500 units worldwide and has the largest share of the global industrial equipment market.
In contrast, 3D printing is still in its infancy in China, and there is a big gap with foreign countries. From the development situation, 3D printing is still in the stage of “advanced toysâ€, and industrial applications are limited to mold manufacturing, and mature industrialization has not been realized.
In terms of equipment production, the 3D printer equipment function produced in China is close to the international peer level, and the gap is mainly reflected in the reliability of equipment and material research and development. For example, Luo Jun said that some key components of domestic 3D printers, such as laser heads, need to be imported from foreign countries. Although several companies in China have been able to manufacture 3D printing equipment on their own, the scale of the company is generally small and the research and development strength is insufficient. In the specific steps of process flow stability, workpiece support material generation and processing, and preparation of some special materials, there are major defects, and it is difficult to fully meet the needs of product manufacturing. In addition, China is far less abundant in terms of material quality and variety than the United States and Germany, and many experimental materials for research and development still need to be imported.
The bigger gap is also reflected in the application. In foreign countries, 3D printing technology has been applied in new product development, biomedical, aerospace and other aspects, and China is limited to a few fields such as mold models and cultural and creative products. Yan Yongnian, a professor at Tsinghua University, said that China's 3D printing industry still uses the old road of traditional manufacturing business model - production equipment to sell equipment, first to produce and sell equipment, regardless of market and user demand.
From the perspective of the whole industry, due to the lack of leading enterprises, the government has no targeted measures, and the overall industry is still small. On the other hand, China's manufacturing industry is still in an extensive form, and all links are related to 3D printing technology. The impact of the impact is still insufficient, and the acceptance is low.
Luo Jun believes that 3D printing must start with the application, grasp the user's needs, and drive the application with demand. The demand of the industrial industry can further promote the improvement and improvement of 3D printing technology.
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