When it comes to 3D Printing, the first impression of many people is plastic or resin printing, but in fact, metal can also be 3D printed! As early as 2015, there were reports of the world's most complex 3D printed metal sternum implanted in Spanish patients. It can be seen that metal 3D printing has played an important role in medicine for a long time.

Or some people will say that metal 3D printing is sintered layer by layer, and the bonding between layers will not be too good, with defects, and the mechanical properties will not exceed the traditional forming method. Think so, you're out! In fact, the metal 3D printing layer and the layer are combined by the molten pool, and the longitudinal performance is not bad, and may even exceed the horizontal direction. With the advancement of technology, the performance of metal 3D printing has far surpassed that of castings, surpassing forgings! Let ’s take a closer look at five of the application areas of metal 3D printing!

1. Mold manufacturing

Conformally cooled metal molds for 3D printing have been around for many years. From the beginning full of doubts to subsequent gradual attempts, 3D printed metal molds are now being recognized by more and more customers. On May 21, 2019, at the 2019 Chinaplas held in Guangzhou, a number of 3D printing companies demonstrated their applications in molds. Through the internal display of transparent part molds, it can be clearly seen that molds made with 3D printers can have complex conformal cooling channels. In the process of injection molding production, the molds can be cooled uniformly and quickly and the production efficiency can be improved To extend the service life of the mold.

This conformal cooling metal mold can form more uniform plastic parts products, make the products zero defects, and avoid sink marks caused by uneven cooling speed. In addition, when developing new injection molded products, new product development can be completed with fewer iterations. When efficiency, cost, and performance surpass traditional molds, why do we not choose 3D printing?

2. Hardware Parts

There is an error in the measurement data of the traditional industry, but now, we can get a three-dimensional digital model through 3D scanning, modify the design on the existing three-dimensional digital model of the hardware product, and then get a new product digital model, and then use metal 3D The printed hardware products have been modified, and the accuracy has been further improved.

In addition, 3D printed metal and hardware products are integrally formed, which can be put into practical use, thereby reducing the cost of repeated mold opening due to design errors, and ensuring that the generated model has a high degree of detail, which is convenient for customers to carry out design Appropriate testing and verification.

3. Car parts

In the previously shared article, we learned that luxury car manufacturer Bugatti has successfully manufactured the world's first new eight-piston integrated car brake caliper through metal powder bed laser melting 3D printing technology. The performance test in early 2019 is even more Further revealing the industrialization prospect of this innovation, 3D printed titanium brake calipers will be applied to mass-produced vehicles. So far, Bugatti has developed 3D printed functional parts-brake calipers, spoiler brackets, motor brackets and front axle differentials. What is exciting is that Bugatti uses selective laser melting SLM metal 3D printing technology to mass produce motor brackets, which have been installed in new Chiron series vehicles.

As an emerging rapid manufacturing technology, the biggest advantage of metal 3D printing technology is that it supports manufacturers to produce many parts without having to develop manufacturing tools and build production equipment. In addition, metal 3D printing has the characteristics of high flexibility, suitable for complex shapes and structures, suitable for combination materials, and streamlined procedures, which just overcomes the limitations of the traditional production process of automotive parts.

4. Aerospace

As a typical representative technology in the third industrial revolution, the development of 3D printing has received wide attention from all walks of life. The metal 3D printing technology is regarded as a difficult and high-standard development branch in the field of 3D printing by industry experts, and plays an important role in industrial manufacturing. Nowadays, industrial manufacturing companies in various countries in the world are vigorously researching and developing metal additive manufacturing technology, especially aerospace manufacturing companies, and they are investing a lot of financial and material resources to increase research and development efforts to ensure their own technological leadership.

Various cases fully show that metal 3D printing has been widely accepted and widely used. Nice Rapid has recently adjusted the price of metal printing according to the general trend, so that customers can get the most satisfactory products at the most reasonable cost. Welcome to contact us at enquiry@nice-rapidtooling.com today!