What are the disadvantages of 3d printing in China in this article?

Discussion on the Factors Restricting the Development of 3D Printing Industry in China

"Material bottleneck has become the primary problem limiting the development of 3D printing. Because the real development of 3D printing in the future will be in the high-end field, that is, industrial applications, and the current development of high-end printing materials can not meet the needs of the development of 3D printing technology. " Ping Liu, deputy director of Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Brazing Materials and Technology and senior engineer of Zhejiang Yatong Welding Materials Co., Ltd. said.

With more and more attention paid to 3D printing, related problems have surfaced. Experts say that only by looking at the 3D industry calmly and preventing the influx of bees can we follow the footsteps of the photovoltaic industry.

There are few kinds of materials and many problems.

3D printing is mainly composed of equipment, software and materials, among which materials are indispensable. "Now the industry mainly studies equipment and software, and does not pay enough attention to material research." Ping Liu said.

Theoretically, all materials can be used for 3D printing, but at present, gypsum, photosensitive resin and plastic are the main materials, which are difficult to meet the needs of mass users.

Industrial 3D printing materials are very limited. At present, there are only 10 kinds of applicable metal materials, and only special metal powder materials can meet the printing needs of metal parts.

The 3D printing of metal powder materials is an industrial printer, that is, selective laser sintering (SLS) and selective laser melting (SLM).

"At present, the main problems existing in industrial-grade printing materials are: First, the maturity of applicable materials cannot keep up with the development of the 3D market; Second, the printing fluency is insufficient; Third, the material strength is not enough; Fourth, the contradiction between the safety of materials to human body and the friendliness to the environment; The fifth is the formulation of material standardization and serialization specifications.

3D printing requires high performance of powder materials such as particle size distribution, bulk density, oxygen content and fluidity. However, an industry standard has not yet been formed, so it takes a long time to select material characteristics in the early stage. "Ping Liu said.

The price is high and the research and development is difficult.

According to different uses, workpieces made of metal materials require high strength, corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, low specific gravity and good sinterability. At the same time, it is also required that the material is non-toxic and environmentally friendly; The performance should be stable to meet the continuous and reliable operation of the printer. Functions should be more and more abundant. For example, some materials are required to have electrical conductivity, water solubility and wear resistance.

In addition, the most important thing is that the economy is better. Simply put, it is low cost and affordable for customers. Otherwise, it is difficult to popularize and apply it on a large scale in the market.

The way to reduce the price of raw materials can only be a breakthrough in key technologies, but this is more difficult and requires very high requirements in some special fields. For example, in the field of medical application, it should be non-toxic and harmless, and it should be biocompatible. The technical requirements are very complicated, and the preparation technology of metal powder, that is, the unique atomization process and atomization equipment, is also very difficult. It is difficult to solve without a lot of research and development.