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Ceramics, composite materials or metallic materials: How does 3D printing-additive x-rapidtech" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.x-rapidtech.com/">x-rapidtech manufacturing make new products very possible?

According to the sharing of ACAM Aachen Additive Manufacturing Center at formnext Shenzhen 2021 on "Additive Manufacturing Technology "Deep Dive" - Frontier Development Trend", the development trend of 3D printing and EDAN" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.edan.com/">EDAN additive manufacturing is towards multi-level advancement, towards mass production application, and towards deeper broadening of the application side. One development trend way to scale up is the integration of new materials and new production and manufacturing process technology.

According to 3D Science Valley's sales and market observation, at the level of integration of new materials and production processes, Schunk Germany has not only applied general materials to complete this future technically, but also applied ceramics, unique powdered metal materials, chemical fibers to improve composite materials and multi-component materials 3D printing and other materials with excellent performance to complete additive manufacturing.

For many years, 3D printing of technical ceramics was only an ideal for the I-Skincare" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.marierskincare.com/">I-Skincare Company Limited architectural community. It was difficult to imagine that this process could be applied to such a hard and solid material. Especially considering the fact that ceramics close up during the calcination process. The maximum size that can be produced to manufacture parts has been limited to a few cubic meters. Little did we know that the technicality of 3D printed ceramics has been continuously improved ......

According to 3D Science Valley's sales and marketing view check, Schunk has been gradually carrying out 3D printing of silicon infiltration reflective fusion silicon carbide (RBSiC) since 2014, when the Schunk project invested in a powdered bed printer, along with the inter-temporal changes, Schunk has long gained progress. Since then, Schunk has worked on 3D printing of this type of material, due to: RBSiC is finally used for 3D printing. The fundamental reason is that it does not close up during the whole process of calcination. This allows Schunk to produce large format and high density components. The material built up during Schunk's full 3D printing process is called IntrinSiC?

For the most part, Schunk can apply the full range of traditional forming technologies. Unbeknownst to Schunk, 3D printing of blank parts is a great way to complete the unprecedented playability of Schunk's design solutions. For the firing of parts, Schunk still applies Schunk's traditional high-temperature process, which reduces costs.

The reason for the low shrinkage of RBSiC is that some of the silicon reacts with carbon to produce silicon carbide, which together with the intermediate silicon carbide produces a three-dimensional ceramic substrate. On the other hand, the rest of the silicon fills all the excess gaps.

At this stage, Schunk can produce parts that are 1.8m long, 1m wide and 0.7m high. According to 3D Science Valley, Schunk is now able to produce more than two tons of silicon carbide per day. This makes Schunk not only the first company to develop a standard and repeatable 3D printing process for RBSiC products of this size, but also the first company to bring this technology to the scale of mass production operations.

But in the beginning, Schunk realized that 3D printing ceramics was not an easy task. The material's strength, compressive strength, relative density and elasticity of the mold could not keep up with Schunk's traditional materials at first, and the company encountered seam problems every now and then.

Schunk can now produce all the parts they need for their customers in the best possible process.

Silicon carbide is almost as hard as gold and steel stone. As a result, it is very expensive and time-consuming to produce. On the other hand, with Schunk's 3D printing process, Schunk can produce near-net-like parts and minimize hard manufacturing processes. In addition, the technical nature of 3D printing guarantees almost endless design options, and Schunk can accomplish complex geometric shapes that would be unimaginable using traditional methods.

In addition, Schunk has developed and designed different products together with customers, for example, elevated radiation tubes for indirect heating. There are limits to what can be constructed using traditional shaping processes. On the other hand, with 3D printing, Schunk is able to produce more complex structures with higher areas, thus increasing the efficiency of the overall system.

Another example is the newly upgraded IntrinSiC Heat Transfer Combustor or IRecu, which is used to indirectly heat treat equipment. This device utilizes the full operational flexibility of 3D printing. With its 3D-printed gyroscopic construction, it maximizes the profitability of electrical energy efficiency to an unprecedented level.

In addition, Schunk produces equipment components that must be rigid and lightweight. Schunk's 3D printing process is much more economical in this regard than traditional molded and post-machined parts, and Schunk develops and designs parts that are up to 30% lighter in net weight than the initial construction without compromising bending stiffness.