Titanium alloy 3D printing has become a trend in the new machine additive manufacturing

Two years ago, a drone named "SULSA" was born and shocked the world. “SULSA” was designed and manufactured by two young engineers at the University of Southampton, UK. In addition to the motor for driving, all components, including the wing, integral control surface and hatch, were “printed” out in 2 days. of.

That is to say, in just two years, 3D printing technology has been applied to military and aerospace fields, and high-cost fighters and carrier-based aircraft can also be “printed out”. At present, China has already possessed the technology and capability of using laser to form complex titanium alloy components of more than 12 square meters, and put it into use in the design and trial production of aviation scientific research projects.

Production efficiency is 3 times that of traditional

By capturing the pulse of “input-output ratio”, 3D printing technology was predicted by the British “Economist” magazine to “promote the advent of a new round of industrial revolution”. This advanced "replication" manufacturing technology with digital and intelligent features has quietly become the "new upstart" of the national defense and military industries.

According to Li Daguang, professor of military logistics and military technology equipment teaching and research department at National Defense University, 3D printing technology can reduce the pressure of logistics support. For the moment, using the same number of consumables to make parts, 3D printers are three times more productive than traditional methods. If there is a 3D printer on the battlefield, it can produce weapons and equipment and supplies in the battlefield in time, which will greatly reduce the pressure on the production and logistics support.

As the "air power" is more and more important for modern warfare, while countries are actively developing a new generation of fighters, 3D printing technology is gradually being absorbed.

In the 1980s and 1990s, it took at least 10-20 years to develop a new generation of fighters. The US F-15 fighter jet took six years from the planned development in 1966 to the first flight, and the F-22 took 16 years; the Russian Su-27 took 10 years, and the Su-30 took 6 years.

In the traditional fighter manufacturing process, after the 3D model of the aircraft is designed, long-term investment is required to manufacture the hydroforming equipment. After using the additive manufacturing technology of 3D printing, the forming speed and application speed of the parts can be greatly improved. improve.

Li Daguang said that the most prominent advantage of 3D printing technology is that it can directly generate any shape parts from computer graphics data without machining or any mold. With 3D printing technology and other information technology, it takes at least 3 years to develop a new fighter.

Titanium 3D printing for new machines

In the 3D printing technology, the laser forming technology of the large-scale integral components of aircraft titanium alloy is a high-end development situation. As the first country to develop titanium alloy 3D printing technology, in 1985, the United States secretly opened the research of titanium alloy laser forming technology under the leadership of the Pentagon, and it was made public in 1992. The United States continued to develop this technology, and in 2002, laser-formed titanium alloy parts were mounted on fighter aircraft for testing.

On January 14 this year, Sciaky, a well-known manufacturer of electron beam, plasma arc and resistance welding equipment in the United States, announced that they have successfully mastered the manufacturing technology of titanium alloy 3D printing using electron beams. This technology will be used to produce multiple parts of the US fifth-generation stealth fighter F-35.

Li Daguang said that the traditional production of weapons and equipment is mainly to do the "subtraction" method. The raw materials are cut, ground, corroded, melted, etc., and the excess parts are removed to form parts, which are then assembled and welded into products. In this process, 90% of the raw materials will be wasted. In addition to improving the speed of development of weapons and equipment, 3D printing technology can significantly reduce the cost of weapons and equipment.

As the world's most expensive and sophisticated fighter, the US F-35 joint attack aircraft sells at least $150 million each. Compared to traditional manufacturing methods, 3D new technology manufactures products with lower cost and longer life. If more than 3,000 fighters use this technology to make parts, they can save billions of dollars in cost.

Although China's titanium alloy laser forming technology started late, it now has the technology and capability to use laser to form complex titanium alloy components of more than 12 square meters, becoming the second country in the world to master this technology after the United States. At the 16th China Beijing International Science and Technology Industry Expo held in May this year, the laser forming technology of large titanium alloy key components of the aircraft was awarded the first prize of the 2012 National Technology Invention Award.

Sun Cong, deputy chief engineer of AVIC and chief designer of 歼-15, revealed during the two sessions of the year that the 3D printing technology of titanium alloy and M100 steel (additive manufacturing technology) has been widely used in the trial design process of new machines. Among them, the model that successfully flew first from October to November 2012, widely used 3D printing technology to manufacture the main bearing part of titanium alloy, including the entire front landing gear.