Source: Xinhua News Agency

Outlook Oriental Weekly reporter, Shi Jiaqing editor, Chen Rongxue

On July 12, 2023, the format of the undergraduate admission notice for Northwestern Polytechnical University was released. In addition to reflecting the characteristics of the school's aviation, aerospace, and navigation, this admission letter also contains a "surprise".

With the admission notice, 2023 undergraduate students can draw exclusive blind boxes at the registration site. "The relevant person in charge of the school's recruitment office introduced that the blind box content includes: the J-20Q · 3D printed model with the signature of General Manager Yang Wei, the Y-20Q · 3D printed model with the signature of General Manager Tang Changhong, and the Z-20Q · 3D printed model with the signature of General Manager Deng Jinghui.

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a technology that is highly sought after by students. It is based on digital model files and uses adhesive materials such as powdered metal or plastic to construct objects through layer by layer printing.

Printing food, printing rockets, printing cars... Everything can be 3D printed. Against the backdrop of the booming digital economy and the preva lence of intelligent manufacturing, the development of the 3D printing industry is quietly accelerating.

3D printing of food

In recent years, guided by the new dietary concepts of environmental protection, health, safety, and efficiency, innovative food 3D printing has rapidly emerged.

Visitors to the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Museum found that the six chocolate 3D printers inside the museum provided them with a trendy science popularization experience.

Visitors have multiple choices and can print chocolates in various shapes such as astronauts, flying saucers, rockets, or tanks. As the equipment provider, Li Jingyuan, CEO of Hangzhou Shiyin Technology Co., Ltd., told Outlook Oriental Weekly that 3D printing not only brings richer shapes and more attractive flavors to food, but also makes visitors more interested in learning about technological knowledge.

It is reported that this "Panda" self-service chocolate 3D printer is designed, paid, and printed in one go, without the need for operators to be on duty. It can be widely used in fields such as technology education, cultural tourism, and commercial complexes.

In cultural and tourism scenes, chocolate 3D printing has become very common.

The cultural and creative space of the Wenrun Pavilion in the Hangzhou branch of the National Edition Museum of China provides visitors with a new choice for 3D printing of "cultural relics chocolate". Visitors can choose their favorite model for on-site printing through WeChat QR code scanning. They only need to wait for three to five minutes to print and publish exquisite chocolates based on the museum's architectural models or the bronze sword of the King of Yue during the Warring States period.

At the Suzhou Museum, Nanjing Museum, and Yunnan Provincial Museum, visitors can print chocolates in the shape of museum collections; At the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium, chocolate in the shape of sea horses, devil's fish, whales, turtles, dolphins and other marine creatures can be printed.

In commercial complexes such as Yintai and Wanda, we will combine fashionable IP content to create IP shaped 3D food; during the release of popular movies, we will also make character shaped chocolates in the movies, "said Li Jingyuan.

Both rockets and cars can be printed

At present, 3D printing technology has been widely applied in many fields, involving our daily lives in areas such as clothing, food, housing, aerospace, automotive manufacturing, medical treatment, architecture, etc., "Professor Zhang Yamei from the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Southeast University told Outlook Oriental Weekly.

On March 22, 2023 local time, the world's first 3D printed rocket, the Terran 1, attempted to launch for the third time but failed to enter orbit. The Associated Press reported that the Terran 1 rocket is 33.5 meters high, and 85% of its components are made of 3D printing. Even the rocket's engine is manufactured using 3D printing technology.

In fields such as new energy batteries, cultural relic restoration, and human organs, 3D printing is also constantly being attempted and practiced.

Our 'Linglong' series of ultra micro 3D printing batteries are customized batteries developed specifically for implantable medical robots. Due to the small size of medical robots, the required battery volume is smaller. Currently, only 3D printing technology can solve the problem of integrated manufacturing and packaging of batteries with 3D dimensions less than 4mm. "Ling Qi, Chief Operating Officer of High Energy Digital Manufacturing (Xi'an) Technology Co., Ltd., told Outlook Oriental Weekly.

It is reported that the company has also produced a miniature battery with small size, long battery life, and high discharge rate. With the help of this 3D printed battery, capsule robots can perform video observations of the internal details of the human digestive tract, providing doctors with more reliable and detailed information for diagnosis.

In Anhui, the XEV YOYO, a lightweight electric vehicle produced by Hefei Youyao Technology Company, is the world's first electric vehicle to be mass-produced with 3D printing technology for both interior and exterior trim parts; In the Longmen Grottoes of Luoyang, with the help of digital 3D printing technology, a hundred year old wandering Buddha with infinite longevity has achieved a "body and head combination"; In order to help more people understand the Laixi Puppet Show, a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage protection project in Shandong Province, Jiang Yutao, the fifth generation inheritor of Laixi Puppet Show, used 3D printing to create internal mechanism bearings for puppets, which increased the difficulty and visual effect of puppet performances.

On February 13th, at the Yungang Grottoes Art Museum in Qingdao City Media Square, Shandong Province, the 3rd cave of the Yungang Grottoes was 3D printed. The 9.93-meter statue of the main Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, had a round and plump face with a transcendent expression.

3D printing has become a high-tech tool around people, entering the homes of ordinary people and changing their way of life.

Disrupting traditional manufacturing

In the Chongqing exhibition area of the 2023 Zhongguancun Forum Exhibition, a 3D printing device attracted crowds to stop.

This precision equipment that can achieve 2-micron ultra-high precision 3D printing is from Chongqing Mofang Precision Technology Co., Ltd.

It is understood that this 3D printing device adopts surface projection micro stereo lithography technology and a high-precision ultraviolet lithography projection system - the model to be printed is layered and projected onto the resin liquid surface, which can quickly micro stereo shape and process from a digital model into a three-dimensional complex industrial sample.

Compared with traditional printing technology, 3D printing requires the use of computer-aided design software to create a 3D model in advance due to its three-dimensional configuration. Then, the raw materials are loaded into the machine body, and controlled by a computer. Laser syringes are used to accumulate the raw materials layer by layer, transforming the blueprint on the computer into a physical object. Throughout the process, the computer will automatically calculate the size and position of each step to ensure the accuracy of the manufactured object.

Compared to traditional manufacturing technology, the prominent advantage of 3D printing technology is that it does not require templates and can be directly printed and stacked layer by layer through a printer to achieve manufacturing. "Zhang Yamei told Outlook Oriental Weekly that this advanced technology has particularly obvious advantages for the production of various irregular components or devices.

Firstly, there is no need for templates, which enables design freedom; secondly, direct printing saves template materials and labor, improving manufacturing efficiency. Zhang Yamei said that currently, there is a shortage of manufacturing workers worldwide, and 3D printing manufacturing technology has effectively solved this social problem.

After purchasing a 3D printer, machine parts that used to cost 60000 yuan can now be printed out for a few hundred yuan. "Entering the lighthouse factory of Yizi (Suzhou) Food Co., Ltd., factory director Li Yunlong told Outlook Oriental Weekly that the factory has saved millions of yuan (RMB) by buying parts by piece and now buying plastic wires by weight.

Traditional baking products are all handmade. Nowadays, we can present them digitally, "said Li Jingyuan. A food 3D printer can make more than 20 different types of food - making ingredients into printing" ink ", inputting recipes, pressing buttons, and leaving the rest of the cooking to the program.

According to Li Jingyuan, the working principle of food 3D printers is to melt raw materials through a certain temperature, and use high-throughput 3D printing nozzles to stack and shape layers from the bottom, achieving a high three-dimensional effect. The food 3D printer can print different forms of products that consumers like, which is not only convenient and fast, but also enables customized and personalized operations.

3D printing technology has also opened up new avenues for low-cost and efficient manufacturing of batteries with unique structures and high performance. Electrode production requires coating.

3D printing technology has also opened up new avenues for low-cost and efficient manufacturing of batteries with unique structures and high performance. The production of electrodes requires five or six manufacturing processes, including coating, baking, rolling, cutting, winding, or lamination. There are many production processes, high energy consumption, large footprint, and no flexible production capacity. "Lingqi told Outlook Oriental Weekly that compared to traditional technology, their new generation of battery 3D printing equipment can achieve 10% μ M-level high-precision and high design freedom integrated intelligent manufacturing of all solid-state batteries.

It is reported that this device has a wide range of material adaptability and can directly use different materials to achieve integrated manufacturing of batteries without special modification adjustments. It can provide higher quality battery products for fields such as electric vehicles, electric aviation, and intelligent wearable devices.

Compared to traditional production methods, 3D printing brings advantages to battery manufacturing, including faster and simpler processes, lower costs, customizability, intelligence, and safety. Especially noteworthy is the integration of 3D printing to prepare complex electrode structures, which can also achieve low pollution and energy consumption, "Lingqi said.

Bottlenecks urgently need to be broken through

China attaches great importance to the development of 3D printing technology.

In March 2021, the 14th Five Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China and the Outline of Long Range Objectives for 2035 were released, clarifying the importance of developing additive manufacturing in enhancing the core competitiveness of the manufacturing industry and developing intelligent manufacturing technology. Additive manufacturing is regarded as an important area for future planning and development.

At the local policy level, governments in Guangdong, Jiangsu, Chongqing, Zhejiang, Shandong, Shanghai, Shaanxi, and other regions have all clarified the important position of additive manufacturing in the overall development of high-end manufacturing in policy documents.

With the help of policies, domestic 3D printers are constantly emerging, promoting the rapid expansion of related industrial applications.

Guo Dan, the Secretariat of the China Additive Manufacturing Industry Alliance, stated that although the investment actions of global venture capital institutions continue to slow down, domestic institutions' investment in the 3D printing industry still maintains stable growth.

Guo Dan said that in 2022, the total financing amount of 3D printing enterprises in China reached 6.4 billion yuan, an increase of 33% compared to the 4.8 billion yuan in 2021.

Professor Lu Bingheng, an academician of the CAE Member and the former dean of the School of Mechanics of Xi'an Jiaotong University, is known as the "father of 3D printing in China". He believes that the scientific research level of China's 3D printing technology has reached the forefront of the world, but there is still great room for development in process equipment and engineering applications. Therefore, China's 3D printing technology needs to develop a technology development roadmap, plan a development path for basic research, industrialization, and engineering applications, in order to truly industrialize it.

Lu Bingheng stated that 3D printing technology provides a new path for high-end manufacturing. Everything can be 3D printed, and it is necessary to use different manufacturing methods reasonably and leverage their respective advantages for product production.

There are still some bottlenecks in the development of 3D printing.

In some fields, there is still a need to strengthen the collaboration between enhanced technology and 3D printing technology. However, in reality, collaboration is not easy, and some enhancement measures can interfere with the printing process. "Zhang Yamei gave an example to" Outlook Oriental Weekly ", stating that in the field of 3D printing construction, reinforced 3D printing concrete has obvious problems, and the performance of the printed products is far inferior to that of traditional reinforced concrete production.

In addition, due to the stacked construction method used in 3D printing, interface issues have become a common challenge.

Although there are technical strategies to solve interface problems, when printing in large sizes, the problem is often more complex and requires systematic solutions from materials, processes, and other aspects, "said Zhang Yamei.

In the application process, how 3D printing technology can effectively protect intellectual property rights has also received much attention. Regarding this, Zong Guisheng, the founder and chairman of Beijing Sandi Technology Co., Ltd., proposed two suggestions at the 2023 China Economic and Media Conference: firstly, to protect by integrating blockchain technology; The second is to apply for patent protection for original intellectual property rights in law.

With the gradual decrease in the cost of 3D printing technology, the prices of many 3D printing products have been close to or even lower than those of traditional manufacturing. I believe that within five years, 3D printing technology will cover most of the manufacturing field. "Li Jingyuan said that in the future, 3D printing technology will better benefit people's lives.