Catching up fast in 3D printing
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E-mail China Daily, July 25, 2016
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Visitors watch a working 3D printer at a recent technology innovation expo in Dalian, Liaoning province. [Photo/China Daily] |
Xu Jun, aerospace engineering and technology leader at Honeywell Technology Solutions China, said, "Through cooperation with our Chinese partners, we've recognized China's efforts in catching up, and to be honest, China is not lagging too much in the practical application of 3D printing."
After nearly two decades of development, China's 3D printing market value has grown to 4.65 billion yuan (around $694 million) in 2014, and may grow by 40 percent annually to reach 20 billion yuan by 2018, a report from Southwest Securities said.
Another report from Wohlers Associates said the global 3D printing industry grew 25.9 percent year-on-year in 2015, with more than 278,000 desktop printers, costing under $5,000 each, sold worldwide last year. The independent consulting firm also estimated the global market size will reach $21.2 billion by 2020.
Experts expect the new technology to potentially find applications even in industries like aerospace, medical, tooling and industrial design in future.
"A distinctive advantage of 3D printing is it can shorten and simplify complicated manufacturing, and this advantage becomes more evident if the product is very complicated," said Zeng from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
An example is Honeywell's Shanghai facility. It supported numerous prototyping projects for the turbocharger team in 2015, resulting in a 65 percent reduction in schedule on average, which translates into cost savings, said Godfrey of Honeywell Aerospace.
The Honeywell Technology Solutions China's Additive Manufacturing Lab in Shanghai is one of the four 3D printing labs the company operates around the world; the other three are in India, Europe and the US.
"But 3D printing is not suitable for every sector, only for creating unique products with special designs rather than mass production," said Zeng.
Lu Bingheng, head of mechanical and engineering department at Xi'an Jiaotong University, told the Economic Information Daily that 3D printing is reshaping even productivity and social life, and may experience a blowout in coming years.
For, modern manufacturing is marked by mass production and standardization. But it faces increasing challenge to satisfy more individual requirements from clients. The demand for tailor-made products thus makes 3D printing popular, said Lu.
According to Airbus SAS, this innovation could even shape the future of aircraft component manufacturing and design. It represents a new alternative to production processes such as milling, melting, casting and precision forging, producing only 5 percent waste material instead of up to 95 percent from current machining.
In 2015, Honeywell became the first company to produce an aerospace component using the electron beam melting system as part of an experimental design for an existing tube used on the Honeywell HTF7000 jet engine.
Honeywell plans to use 3D printing to produce non-life-critical or non-rotating components. It is currently at a stage of getting regulatory bodies, the industry and customers comfortable with 3D printing, according to Godfrey.
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