Principles and development of 3D printing

3D printing technology is a kind of rapid prototyping technology. It is based on digital model files and can be bonded to materials such as powder metal or plastic, the technology of building objects by means of stacking and accumulation layer by layer. In the past, it was often used in the field of mold manufacturing and industrial design, and is gradually used for direct manufacturing of some products. In particular, some high-value applications (such as hip joints or teeth, or some aircraft components) already have components printed using this technology, which means the popularity of the "3D printing" technology.

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The principles of 3D printing are divided into three parts:

1. 3D design

The design process of 3D printing is: first modeling through computer aided design (CAD) or computer animation modeling software, and then "dividing" the 3D model into layer-by-layer sections, this guides the printer to print layer by layer. The standard file format for collaboration between design software and printers is STL file format. An STL file uses a triangular surface to roughly simulate the surface of an object. The smaller the Triangle surface, the higher the resolution of the generated surface. PLY is a scanner used to generate 3D files by scanning. The generated PML or WRL files are often used as full-color input files.

2. Printing process

By reading the cross section information in the file, the printer prints these sections layer by layer using liquid, powdered, or flake materials, and then binds the sections of each layer in various ways to create an entity. This technology is characteristic of its ability to make almost any shape of an item.

Traditional manufacturing technologies such as injection molding can produce a large number of polymer products at a low cost, while 3D printing technology can be faster, more flexible and cost-effective means to produce a relatively small number of products. A desktop-sized 3D printer can meet the needs of designers or conceptual development teams to create models.

3. Complete

Currently, the resolution of 3D printers is sufficient for most applications (the curved surface may be rough, just like the sawtooth image). To get a higher resolution, you can use the following method: first, use the current 3D printer to create a slightly larger object, and then slightly polish the surface to get a smooth "high resolution" item.

Some technologies can print multiple types of materials at the same time. Some technologies also use support during the printing process. For example, when printing some inverted objects, some easy-to-remove items (such as soluble items) are used as support.

Principles and development of 3D printing