If you just know the term "3D print," and read about 3D print, but you don't know the technology behind it, you're actually a layman. Why do the media say 3D printing will trigger the third industrial revolution? Why should 3D printing upset manufacturing? What's the difference between this new technology and traditional manufacturing technology? 

   Three major thinking of manufacturing technology 

   At this point, you need to understand the manufacturing technology of the three major thinking: equal material manufacturing, subtractive manufacturing, material manufacturing. When the ancients wanted to make a bronze, weapon, or coin, they usually cast it. Casting is an ancient and advanced technology. According to the bronze knife unearthed in Majiayao, Gansu Province, the ancients began to use casting technology more than 5000 years ago. Up to now, foundry technology is still an important technology in manufacturing, such as automobile engine cylinder block, gearbox cylinder block and so on. This kind of manufacturing thinking, such as casting, injection molding, etc., the volume of materials hardly changes in the manufacturing process, we call it "equal material manufacturing". 

△Ancient casting

△Modern casting 

   The second kind of thinking has a long history, for example, if the ancient man wanted to make a fescue to catch prey, he would need to have a fur head, and then he would find a stick to sharpen the end of the stick with a knife and insert it in the head. By cutting off the spare parts of the stick to achieve their desired structure, this manufacturing thinking we call "material reduction manufacturing." Nowadays, with the development of industrialization, material reduction manufacturing is most widely used, such as machine tool processing, most metal parts are machined to produce. Generally taking metal bar and block as raw material, the cutting tool of machine tool is used to obtain the final parts. In the form of manufacturing equipment, this material reduction manufacturing technology, has a history of 300 years. 

△Reduced material manufacturing (machined) thread 

   The third kind of thinking is the protagonist that we want to introduce. We call it "material increasing manufacture" (3D printing). Gu Ming thinks about making objects by adding materials. For example, building houses in rural areas means building bricks and bricks. The process of building a house is to pile up bricks manually, and the 3D printing described in this paper is a computer program to control the automatic accumulation of materials. 

△Artificial building 

△Manufacture of wall by material increasing (3D printing) technology

   Therefore, strictly speaking, "material production" began in 1983, has a history of 35 years ago. Chuck hull, the inventor of 3D printing technology, was working for a small American company that used high-intensity ultraviolet light to solidify liquid plastics into solids. One of its products is to coat a table. "at some point I thought of the plastic sheets we were curing, and I thought maybe I could pile them up to create a prototype component," hull said. After numerous attempts, hull finally printed a small cup, and in 1986 hull founded 3D systems to commercialize sla 3D printing. At present, 3D systems has become the world's 3D printing field of leading enterprises. 

   These are the three major thinking of manufacturing technology, people used to use the first two technologies, 3D printing technology understanding very little. In recent years, 3D printing technology has been paid more and more attention. Under the impetus of national government, media and employees, more and more industries have begun to try 3D printing technology. From aerospace, military, medical, educational and scientific research, dental, mold, automobile, art fashion, archaeology, food, shoes, house and other industries, thinking advanced enterprises and individuals, There has been a lot of innovation using 3D printing technology, and there is no doubt that these people are keeping up with the times. After people enter the material increasing thinking, some difficult problems have been solved, and some previously unimaginable things have been realized. 

Nowadays, as 3D printing technology becomes more and more mature, printing speed is getting faster and faster, the price of raw materials is becoming cheaper and cheaper, the price of equipment is decreasing, the threshold of 3D printing application is becoming lower and lower, 3D printing is moving forward to a new future.