1 Additive manufacturing (3D printing): disruptive manufacturing technology, an important complement to traditional processes
1.1 Principles and development of additive manufacturing
Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as "3D printing", is a representative disruptive technology in the manufacturing industry: it directly manufactures three-dimensional physical solid models that are completely consistent with the corresponding digital models based on three-dimensional model data and layer-by-layer superimposed materials; We believe that additive manufacturing may have a profound impact on traditional process flow, production line, factory model, and industrial chain combination.
Additive manufacturing discretizes the structure of complex parts into simple two-dimensional plane processing, which is expected to solve the problem that is difficult to process the same type of parts: based on the computer three-dimensional design model, through the software layered discrete and numerical control forming system, the three-dimensional solid is changed into several two-dimensional planes, and special materials such as powder and resin are stacked and bonded layer by layer by using laser beams, hot melt nozzles, etc., and finally superimposed and formed to manufacture solid products.
Compared with traditional subtractive manufacturing (SM) and forming manufacturing (FM), additive manufacturing (AM) simplifies the production process, avoids the shortcomings of long production cycle, high cost, and difficult to produce complex parts, and has been widely used in aerospace, shipbuilding, petrochemical, biomedical and other fields, promoting the development of manufacturing.
Additive manufacturing technology originated in the United States and gradually matured in the 21st century: with the increasing maturity of processes, materials and equipment, the application scope of additive manufacturing technology has moved from model and prototype manufacturing to the rapid manufacturing stage of products, and has been applied on a large scale in high-end manufacturing fields such as aerospace. According to Huajing Industry Research Institute, the development process of the additive manufacturing industry can be roughly divided into four stages:
Embryonic stage of ideas (1940-1998): In 1940, Perera proposed the method of cutting cardboard and bonding it layer by layer into a three-dimensional topographic map, and it was not until the late 80s of the 20th century that 3D printing manufacturing technology achieved a fundamental development.
Technology birth stage (1986-1993): light curing technology (SLA), layered solid manufacturing technology (LOM), powder laser sintering technology (SLS), fused deposition manufacturing technology (FDM), nozzle printing technology (3DP) and other technologies have come later.
Equipment launch phase (1988-1996): In 1988, 3D Systems produced the first additive manufacturing equipment SLA250, ushering in a new era of additive manufacturing technology development; In 1996, 3D Systems manufactured the first 3DP equipment, the Actua 2100, and in the same year, Zcorp released the Z402 3DP equipment.
Large-scale application stage (2002 to present): In 2002, Germany successfully developed selective laser melting additive manufacturing equipment (SLM), while a series of new technologies and equipment such as electron beam melting (EBM) and laser engineering net shape (LENS) have emerged.
1.2 Additive manufacturing: high-efficiency, low-cost disruptive technology that makes the manufacturing of complex structures simpler
Additive manufacturing processing has advantages in a variety of application scenarios: additive manufacturing technology and traditional precision machining technology are an important part of the manufacturing industry, at present, additive manufacturing processing and traditional processing there are still gaps in processing accuracy, surface roughness and machinable materials, but additive manufacturing has advantages in a variety of application scenarios because of its new technical principles and characteristics:
In line with the creative drive of "design-guided manufacturing", rapid machining of parts with complex structures: The principle of additive manufacturing is to slice three-dimensional workpieces to obtain two-dimensional contour information, and realize product forming by stacking. This processing method is basically not limited by the shape of the part, especially in the manufacture of products with complex internal structures and cannot be completed by traditional processing.
Shorten product development cycle: Additive manufacturing eliminates the need for traditional tool fixtures and multiple processing, and can quickly manufacture the required parts on a single device, accelerating product development iteration.
High material utilization, which is conducive to reducing manufacturing costs: 1) The utilization rate of additive manufacturing materials far exceeds that of aviation forging: according to the announcement data of Platinum, the material utilization rate of metal 3D printing technology can exceed 95%; According to Li Pengchuan's article "Production Status and Development Trend of Large Aviation Die Forgings", the material utilization rate of Continental Airlines forgings is about 15-25%.
2) The traditional processing and cutting process will produce a large amount of waste, and there is an incomplete loss of the value of the remaining material; Additive manufacturing, on the other hand, adds materials layer by layer based on two-dimensional contour information, and consumables are required on demand, so the material utilization rate is higher than that of traditional processing modes.
Manufacturing mode optimization: eliminating the need to manufacture molds and other processes in advance, without hiring many production personnel, using huge machine tools and complex forging processes, and directly generating complex structure products from computer graphics data, with the characteristics of "removing molds, reducing scrap and reducing inventory"; In terms of production, the structure can be optimized, and it is expected to save materials and energy, improve production efficiency, and reduce production costs, contributing to the realization of unmanned chemical plants.
1.3 Mainstream technology route of additive manufacturing
Nearly 40 years since the birth of additive manufacturing technology, it is in a state of coexistence of multiple technology routes: 1) According to Continental's "Additive Manufacturing Terminology" (GB/T35351-2017), additive manufacturing can be divided into 7 basic processes according to the forming principle. 2) The metal additive manufacturing process principle is mainly powder bed melting (PBF) and directed energy deposition (DED) two categories, the metal 3D printing technology using these two types of process principles can manufacture metal parts that meet the forging standard.
Powder bed melting technology (PBF) is one of the most widely used additive manufacturing technologies today: 1) PBF technology is more suitable for aerospace small batch, customized production characteristics: can solve its lightweight design and functional design requirements, and with the development of technology and cost control, the future may be able to achieve large-scale industrial production. 2) The main representative processes of PBF technology are selective laser sintering (SLS), selective laser melting forming (SLM), direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) and electron beam melting forming (EBSM).
The promotion and application of directed energy deposition technology (DED) is not as good as powder bed melting technology, but it can achieve repair functions: 1) The maturity of DED technology and the degree of equipment automation are not as good as PBF technology, and it has not yet formed a significant irreplaceability in the competition with traditional manufacturing technology. 2) Commonly used DED technology processes mainly include laser near-net forming (LENS), laser stereo forming (LSF), electron beam fuse deposition (EBDM), arc additive manufacturing (WAAM)
Zhang Chaorui, Qian Bo, Zhang Lihao, Mao Jian, and Fan Hongri's article "Research Progress on Metal Additive Manufacturing Process, Materials and Structure" introduces three types of commonly used metal additive manufacturing processes:
(1) Laser selective melting technology (SLM): one of the most commonly used processing techniques. 1) The principle is to use a high-intensity laser energy source to quickly scan and melt the metal powder layer layer layer by layer according to the path planning, and then complete the powder laying work through the program linkage through the working cylinder, powder feeding cylinder and scraper. 2) SLM technology has high production efficiency, which can manufacture metal parts with high density in a short time and shorten the production cycle.
(2) Electron beam selective melting (EBSM): 1) principle: under vacuum conditions, metal powder or metal wire is selectively and rapidly melted with a high-energy electron beam, and the processing is completed through layer by layer melting and stacking. 2) Advantages: Compared with traditional manufacturing technology, EBSM technology has a short manufacturing product cycle, high material utilization, energy saving, no pollution, and its unique vacuum processing environment is easier to process refractory materials. 3) Disadvantages: a special vacuum environment is required, maintenance costs are expensive, and the printed parts cannot be too large; Because electron beam processing is easy to produce rays and affect personal safety, special protective equipment is required.
(3) Arc additive manufacturing (WAAM): 1) principle: use the arc as the energy source to melt the metal material, and accumulate layer by layer according to the path planning until it is formed. 2) Advantages: It has the characteristics of efficient production, cost saving, safety and reliability; Compared with SLM and EBSM technology, it has certain advantages in the manufacture of large-size structural parts, and simplifies the preparation process of traditional manufacturing and shortens the development cycle through the processing method of integrated forming complex structural parts. 3) Disadvantages: the surface quality is poor, and it can only be used after surface processing.
2 Additive manufacturing applications bloom in multiple fields, "from 1 to 100" or usher in the "golden development period"
2.1 The additive manufacturing industry in mainland China is moving towards a new stage of large-scale, autonomous and agglomeration development
According to Zuo Shiquan, Chief Engineer of the Equipment Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, at the Additive Manufacturing Industry Development (Guangzhou) and 2023 Additive Manufacturing Industry Annual Conference "Ten-year Development and Prospect of Additive Manufacturing", the development of the additive manufacturing industry in mainland China presents the following trends:
(1) The overall transformation of the additive manufacturing industry in mainland China from R&D innovation to industrial scale development: 1) From 2012 to 2022, the scale of the additive manufacturing industry in mainland China increased from 1 billion yuan to 32 billion yuan, with a CAGR of 41.42%. 2) It is estimated that the scale of the additive manufacturing industry in mainland China is expected to exceed 40 billion yuan in 2023. 3) According to a conservative estimate of a compound growth rate of 25%, the scale of the mainland additive manufacturing industry is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan around 2027.
The number of enterprises continues to increase: the number of enterprises related to the whole industry chain of additive manufacturing in mainland China exceeds 1,000, the number of listed companies with additive manufacturing as their main business has increased from 1 in 2012 to 22 in 2022 (including the New Third Board), and the number of enterprises above designated size has increased from more than 20 in 2016 to nearly 200 in 2022, of which the number of enterprises with a scale of more than 100 million has increased from 3 in 2012 to 42 in 2022.
Equipment revenue accounts for more than half: In 2022, the revenue of special materials, parts, equipment, services and other aspects of Continental additive manufacturing accounted for about 12.4%, 5.9%, 53.2% and 26% respectively.
(2) Mainland additive manufacturing equipment has realized the transformation from import-based to independent production: 1) Mainland high-precision desktop-grade light-curing additive manufacturing equipment and multi-material fused deposition additive manufacturing equipment continue to lead and sell well overseas; The core indicators related to self-developed equipment such as meter-level multi-laser laser selective melting equipment, multi-electron gun electron beam melting equipment, and large-format sand additive manufacturing equipment have reached the international advanced level; More than ten types of key components such as ultra-high-speed laser cladding heads and electron guns have made breakthroughs and independent production, and their stability and reliability have been continuously improved. 2) Overseas recognition of mainland additive manufacturing equipment continues to increase: In 2022, mainland additive manufacturing equipment (including consumer grade) exported 2.287 million units, an increase of 59.7% over 2019, and the export amount was 3.66 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 1 times over 2019.
(3) The application of additive manufacturing technology realizes the development from prototype manufacturing to direct manufacturing: from rapid manufacturing prototypes to direct manufacturing of final products, it has been applied to 39 major categories and 89 intermediate categories of the national economy such as aerospace, medicine, and automobiles, covering the whole life cycle of product structure design, prototype manufacturing, mass production, tooling production, and guarantee repair.
Aerospace field: the key components of key equipment such as new generation fighters, domestic large aircraft, new rocket engines, and Mars rovers have gradually applied additive manufacturing technology, which has solved the forming problem of many complex structural parts that were difficult to manufacture in the past, and realized the lightweight of product structure.
Medical field: additive manufacturing is used in medical implant customization, prosthetic production, diagnosis and treatment aid production, personalized orthodontic device printing, cell/tissue/organ printing, etc.; Additive manufacturing medical implants such as acetabular cups and spinal fusion devices have obtained NMPA certification to achieve clinical application and expand disease treatment solutions; Additive manufacturing technology realizes the mass customized production of orthodontic dental molds, solves the complex problems of traditional machining and manufacturing, and meets the individual needs of patients.
Automotive field: Additive manufacturing is used in R&D and trial production of concept cars, parts innovation, customized fixture manufacturing, interior innovation, etc., to shorten the R&D cycle, as well as reduce weight, reduce material loss, freely customize parts, and easily replace spare parts.
Casting field: apply additive manufacturing technology to casting processes such as sand casting and investment casting, greatly reduce the casting processing process, improve product manufacturing efficiency, and realize the replacement of traditional casting.
Other fields: Additive manufacturing is applied to the overall manufacturing of building facilities, cultural relics replica display, high-end figures, lightweight shoe manufacturing, etc.
(4) The industrial layout realizes the development and evolution from scattered distribution to agglomeration: from fragmentation and fragmentation to chain and cluster development and evolution.
In 2013, the country's first 3D printing industrial park was built in Weinan, Shaanxi, and subsequently, more than 20 industrial agglomerations and industrial parks of the whole industrial chain of additive manufacturing and related supporting services such as Guangzhou 3D Printing Technology Industrial Park and Anhui Spring Valley 3D Printing Intelligent Equipment Industrial Park have emerged in various places, initially forming an industrial space development layout linked by the Pearl River Delta region and the Yangtze River Delta region, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the central and western regions such as Shaanxi and Anhui.
2.2 Additive manufacturing has a wide range of application scenarios and is promising in aerospace, automotive, medical and other fields
There are many downstream applications of metal additive manufacturing, and aerospace applications are the most: 1) Additive manufacturing technology has been verified and applied in the aerospace field: aerospace companies have low price sensitivity and high requirements for complex precision and large-scale component manufacturing. 2) With the diversification of materials and the development of additive manufacturing equipment, additive manufacturing technology is widely used in product development in many industries. 3) According to the content of the "Wohlers Report 2022" cited by the announcement of Platinum, aerospace accounted for the largest proportion of global additive manufacturing services in 2021, reaching 16.8%, followed by medical and automobile, with 15.6% and 14.6% respectively.
Scenario (1): Aerospace field
Xu Ming and Wu Fan, "Application and Challenges of Metal Powder Additive in Aircraft Engines" introduced additive manufacturing in aircraft engines
Application: Aircraft engines continue to pursue better performance and fuel economy, so the integration of engine materials, structure and function, lightweight design and manufacturing requirements are getting higher and higher, in the development of aircraft engines, the design and manufacture of parts and components are presented below
Features:
Complex structure and high degree of integration: The parts used in the aircraft usually have a more complex structure, which makes it difficult to process and assemble high, in order to avoid the risk of failure caused by assembly, the components with complex structure are developing towards integration.
Lightweight requirements: For aircraft engines, lightweight design is of great significance to improve performance and reduce fuel consumption.
Harsh service environment: With the continuous improvement of aircraft engine performance, the temperature in front of the turbine increases, the temperature and pressure of the corresponding parts during service are getting higher and higher, and the requirements for components are getting higher and higher.
To a large extent, traditional technologies such as casting or forging + machining can no longer meet the needs of rapid iteration of parts development, design and verification. Compared with traditional manufacturing technology, additive manufacturing technology is very suitable for the verification manufacturing of parts due to its fast response characteristics; At the same time, for parts with complex structures, it also has obvious advantages in design iterative optimization:
High manufacturing freedom: its characteristics of layered forming determine that it is not affected by the complex structure of the part during the forming process, and complex structural parts can be directly prepared.
High degree of design freedom: This determines that the traditional structure can be optimized to achieve lightweight design and manufacturing on the basis of meeting the service requirements.
Significantly improve material utilization and significantly reduce the buy-to-fly ratio (BTF): Compared with traditional processing technology (BTF>10:1), additive manufacturing technology controls the buy-to-fly ratio at BTF<3:1.
Modern aero engines are composed of thousands of parts, usually with complex structures, in which static components have relatively low requirements for service performance, in line with the current level of development of additive manufacturing, and a considerable number of static components have been manufactured and applied using additive manufacturing technology.
GE used SLM technology to prepare the superalloy fuel nozzles of the LEAP series engines, which began production in 2015 and passed the FAA certification in 2016, installed for use in the LEAP series of aero engines, and produced more than 30,000 fuel nozzles as of 2018, and has entered the stable mass production stage.
GE's new GE9X series engines, which use a total of 304 additively manufactured parts, including fuel nozzles, low-pressure turbine blades, T25 sensor housings, combustion mixers and heat exchangers, first flew on the new Boeing 777X in January 2020, and are the most powerful commercial jet engines to date, with the application level of additive manufacturing evolving from part-level to part-level applications.
Pratt & Whitney used SLM technology to prepare aero-engine rectifier blades, which achieved 50% weight reduction and shortened manufacturing cycle compared to the traditional blade manufacturing process.
The dot matrix structure manufactured by metal additive manufacturing is also used in engine turbine components to reduce weight and improve performance. Studies have shown that the use of a lattice structure inside the compressor impeller can reduce its moment of inertia and reduce the weight of the part.
Additive manufacturing technology is more suitable for the processing of complex blade structures of rotating parts of aero-engines.
As a new high-bypass turbofan engine, the GE9X integrates a large number of additively manufactured components directly into the core structure of the engine, which uses EBM technology to prepare 228 TiAl alloy low-pressure turbine blades, achieving significant weight reduction.
The high-energy beam processing laboratory of China Aviation Manufacturing Technology Research Institute used EBM technology to prepare TiAl alloy low-pressure turbine blades, and has entered the performance assessment and verification stage.
Metal additive repair technology, especially laser direct energy deposition L-DED, has been widely used to repair damaged parts during service. Through in-situ repair, the replacement or scrapping of original parts is reduced, and the production cycle is shortened
Cost reduction.
Taking the integral blisk plate and integral leaf ring parts as an example, the manufacturing cost may be as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the use of repair technology can avoid the scrapping of the entire part, which has significant economic benefits.
During the working process of the high-pressure compressor of the engine, the compressor blades will contact with the sealing structure to cause the wear of the blade tips, and the blade fault inspection results show that the wear damage rate of the blade tips is 80%, and the scrap rate is nearly 50%. The traditional welding repair method is difficult to meet the service requirements, and the laser direct energy deposition technology can be used to solve the problem of such blade repair by using the characteristics of laser energy concentration, automatic editable beam trajectory, fast beam movement speed and stable operation control.
Zuo Wei, Song Menghua, Yang Huanqing, Chen Xinhong "Review of the Application of Additive Manufacturing Technology in Liquid Rocket Motor" introduces the application of additive manufacturing in launch vehicles:
The rapid development of space technology has put forward higher requirements for launch vehicles: 1) the metal components in liquid rocket engines are developing in the direction of complexity, thin wall, integration, lightweight, and high reliability; 2) In order to compete for the international launch market, traditional aerospace research institutions and emerging commercial space companies pay special attention to the reduction of the development cycle and cost of new engine models.
The additive manufacturing technology of metal materials adopts the concept of model dimensionality reduction and integral processing, which has many advantages: 1) It can quickly form integrated components at one time and quickly, without welding and other assembly links; 2) Its fast/near-rapid solidification microstructure is small, and the product has excellent mechanical properties; 3) Some advanced structures, such as periodic lattice structures, can be prepared on a large scale with the help of additive manufacturing technology, and can be applied in the engine to achieve lightweight, heat insulation, shock absorption and noise reduction, impact resistance, sweat cooling, catalytic reaction and other functions, so as to integrate engine material-structure-function design.
The United States was the first to apply additive manufacturing technology to liquid rocket engines: In addition to the traditional government agencies NASA and rocket engine Pratt Whirok, emerging commercial space companies such as Space Exploration Technology (SpaceX) and Blue Origin in recent years have also focused their research and development into additive manufacturing research and engine engineering applications of metal materials.
Scenario (2): Automobile manufacturing
According to the official website of Yijia 3D: With the continuous maturity of additive manufacturing technology and the increasingly stringent requirements of the automobile manufacturing industry for vehicle energy saving and weight reduction, the application of additive manufacturing technology to print the production of auto parts, not only the structural strength is increased, but also the weight is greatly reduced, this key advantage, making the application of additive manufacturing technology in the automotive industry more and more extensive.
Lightweight is one of the important technical paths for automobile energy saving, consumption reduction and increasing cruising range: according to Zhao Xianmeng, Li Changqing, Zhang Qingxia, Liu Kun, Sun Shuwei's "Application of Lightweight Technology and Materials in Automotive Engineering" data, for fuel vehicles, for fuel vehicles, for every 10% reduction in vehicle mass, vehicle fuel efficiency will increase by 6%-8%; For new energy vehicles, for every 10% weight reduction, the cruising range can be increased by 5-6%.
Steady growth in the application of additive manufacturing technology in the automotive sector: According to the data of the "Wohlers Report 2022" cited by the announcement of Platinum, the size of the additive manufacturing market in the automotive field increased from $1.946 billion to $2.226 billion in 2019-2021, with a CAGR of 6.94%.
Additive manufacturing has revolutionized the development, design and manufacturing processes in the automotive sector: safer lightweight designs, lower costs and shorter development cycles.
The world's famous car companies have applied 3D printing technology to automobile manufacturing and achieved good results: BMW, Daimler, GM, Volkswagen and many other well-known car companies have applied additive manufacturing technology to the mass production of auto parts, reducing the weight of parts, enhancing load-bearing capacity, and improving the performance of parts.
Rapid rise in acceptance of 3D printing in the automotive manufacturing industry: MakerBot's 3D Printing Trends report states that nearly double that car companies increased their use of 3D printing in 2021 compared to 2020.
Scenario (3): Medical field
The application of additive manufacturing technology in the medical field has grown rapidly, and the global medical industry additive manufacturing market size increased from $1.65 billion to $2.378 billion from 2019 to 2021, with a CAGR of 20.07%.
The application of additive manufacturing in the medical field is not limited to the manufacture of prostheses and implants, but also can be used to make micro-tools, perform precise and complex surgeries, reduce risks, and can also be used to print 3D models of internal organs of the human body, help develop surgical planning or assist in surgical teaching, and allow medical staff to practice their hands repeatedly.
Additive manufacturing technology is widely used in the field of dentistry to prepare complex and highly customized high-value small products. Metal powder is an important material in dental 3D printing, mainly used to manufacture metal crowns, oral braces, etc. According to the WeChat public account of "Wuhan Biying Biotechnology Co., Ltd.", additive manufacturing technology is increasingly used in the medical field, such as:
In vitro organ model and bionic model manufacturing: used for preoperative diagnosis, surgical planning and rehearsal, providing three-dimensional intuitive and touchable information for diagnosis and treatment, facilitating communication between doctors, workers and patients, shortening the operation time, reducing the cost of surgery, and effectively improving the level of diagnosis and treatment.
Surgical guide plate and prosthetic limb device: According to the collected individual data, surgical guide plate and personalized prosthesis and other instruments are tailored for patients, which can improve surgical efficiency and accuracy; Improve prosthetic design and fabrication.
Personalized implant manufacturing: patients have a large number of personalized customization needs for damaged tissues and organs, such as skull, jaw, nasal bone, lower limb bone, spine, hip bone, etc., especially in the field of cosmetic shaping. 3D printing enables precise reproduction of damaged areas and restoration of their functionality.
Active tissue and organ printing: Through the three-dimensional control assembly of cells and post-processing and culture, the simulation of microenvironment, microstructure and function is realized, and gradually integrated into the whole body circulatory system and has the function of perception, and finally realizes the in-situ printing of tissues and organs and the construction of a complete living body.
Drug screening biological model and drug printing: drug screening requires large-scale horizontal comparison of the physiological activity and drug toxicity of different compounds, and bioprinting technology to manufacture drug pathological models, artificial organs, and human organ chips (even human chips) can avoid the ethics, time and cost problems caused by large-scale animal experiments and human experiments, and screen new and efficient drugs in a short period of time with large-scale and high-throughput. Precise molding of multiple materials and local microstructure through 3D printing technology enables the simultaneous and precisely controlled release of one or more drugs.
3D printing external fixed brace: The real value brought by 3D printing external fixed brace is not only to achieve accurate customization, but also to allow accurate and efficient digital manufacturing technology to replace manual production methods and shorten the production cycle.
3 Industrial chain combing and beneficiary targets
3.1 Additive manufacturing industry chain combing
After nearly 40 years of development, additive manufacturing has formed a complete industrial chain: according to the announcement of Platinum Company, Zuo Shiquan's report "Ten-year Development and Prospect of Additive Manufacturing" at the Additive Manufacturing Industry Development (Guangzhou) and 2023 Additive Manufacturing Industry Annual Conference, 1) Upstream: mainly including additive manufacturing equipment parts, 3D scanning equipment, additive manufacturing software systems, special material production processes and equipment, etc.; 2) Midstream: mainly 3D printing equipment manufacturers, most of which also provide printing service business and raw material supply, occupying a dominant position in the entire industry chain; 3) Downstream: The industry application has covered aerospace, automotive industry, shipbuilding, energy and power, rail transit, electronics industry, mold manufacturing, medical and health, cultural creativity, construction and other fields.
(1) Additive manufacturing upstream: According to Zuo Shiquan's report "Ten Years of Development and Prospect of Additive Manufacturing" at the Additive Manufacturing Industry Development (Guangzhou) and 2023 Additive Manufacturing Industry Annual Conference, the upstream of additive manufacturing specifically includes additive manufacturing equipment parts, 3D scanning equipment, additive manufacturing software systems, special material production processes and equipment.
Additive manufacturing equipment parts: including high-power laser scanning galvanometer, high-power laser, array high-precision nozzle nozzle, high-precision platform and control system, dynamic focusing mirror, high-quality electron gun, etc.;
3D scanning equipment: including contact 3D scanners and non-contact 3D scanners;
Additive manufacturing software system: including process monitoring and control system, industrial design, simulation and model data processing software.
Special material production process and equipment: including 1) Metal special materials: titanium and titanium alloy powder materials, stainless steel powder, mold steel, insoluble metal powder materials, high temperature alloy powder materials, aluminum alloy powder materials, high strength aluminum alloy powder materials, etc.; 2) Non-metallic special materials: including organic polymer materials, inorganic non-metallic materials, composite materials.
3) Metal material milling equipment: including plasma rotary atomization (PREP) milling equipment, gas atomization (GA) milling equipment, plasma atomization (PA) milling equipment, plasma spheroidization (PS) milling equipment, etc. Ma Jianxiong, Xia Zhangwen and Zhou Weimin's article "Development and Prospect of Metal Additive Manufacturing Technology" introduces four milling methods:
Plasma rotary electrode atomization (PREP) milling: 1) First invented by the American Nuclear Metals Corporation in 1974, and then developed and applied in Russia. 2) Principle: The metal rod rotates at high speed, and melts it in plasma heating, and the centrifugal force throws out and crushes the liquid into fine droplets, and finally condenses into powder. 3) Advantages: The particle size of the powder can be controlled according to the size of the plasma arc current and the speed of the electrode. 4) Disadvantages: The yield of the prepared fine powder is low, generally only about 5%, resulting in a higher cost of powder.
Gas atomization method (GA) milling: 1) GA method is divided into vacuum induction melting gas atomization technology (VIGA) and electrode induction melting gas atomization technology (EIGA). 2) Both VIGA and EIGA use high-pressure air flow to break the molten metal liquid stream into small droplets and solidify into powder: VIGA is a metal or alloy heated and melted under vacuum crucible conditions, while EIGA is induction heating of pre-alloyed rods as self-consumption electrodes. 3) VIGA powder yield: the powder prepared by it usually has an average particle size of < 100μm, which meets the requirements of 3D printing. 4) The biggest advantage of EIGA: it avoids the non-metallic impurities mixed in the traditional crucible melting process, improves the purity of the powder and reduces the degree of oxidation.
Plasma atomization method (PA) milling: 1) Basic principle: the metal wire (φ1~φ5mm) is sent to the focus of the pre-installed high-temperature plasma, the wire is rapidly melted or vaporized, and heat exchange with the inert gas for cooling occurs during the deposition process, and a near-spherical powder is solidified to obtain a nearly spherical powder. 2) The PA method is a unique metal milling technology of AP&C Canada.
Plasma spheroidization (PS) milling: 1) Principle: the powder is sent into the high-temperature plasma by carrier gas, and the powder particles are rapidly heated and melted, forming spherical droplets under the action of surface tension, and quickly cooling and solidifying after entering the cooling chamber to obtain spherical particles. 2) Advantages: The powder prepared by PS technology has the advantages of high purity, less hollow powder, uniform particle size distribution, etc., and is commonly used to prepare highly active and refractory metals, such as W, Mo, NB, TiN, etc. 3) LPW UK company develops commercial PS equipment.
(2) Additive manufacturing midstream: According to the announcement of Platinum, additive manufacturing equipment is one of the keys to the development of the additive manufacturing industry, and most of the core patents of additive manufacturing are mastered by equipment manufacturers, so equipment manufacturers often occupy a dominant position in the entire industry chain, and most of these manufacturers also provide printing services.
Additive manufacturing equipment can be divided into desktop printers and industrial printers: according to the announcement of Platinum, 1) Desktop printers: With the expiration of patent protection related to foreign desktop printers, technical barriers have declined, and the number of domestic desktop printer manufacturers has grown rapidly, increasing the degree of competition in the domestic desktop additive manufacturing market; 2) Industrial printers: Compared with desktop printers, industrial printers have high technical barriers and large capital investment, and have been developing relatively slowly, but the current industrial additive industry is strongly supported by national policies, and the market shows rapid growth.
Intensification of the integration of the additive manufacturing industry: Equipment manufacturers have gradually transformed into comprehensive solution providers through the acquisition of 3D printing software companies, material companies, service providers, etc., and strengthened their overall control over the industrial chain.
(3) Downstream of additive manufacturing: According to the announcement of Platinum, the application of additive manufacturing technology in the downstream is mainly divided into direct manufacturing, design verification and prototype manufacturing.
Direct manufacturing is the main development trend of additive manufacturing technology in the future: according to the three-dimensional model, the final product is directly produced by additive manufacturing technology, which has the characteristics of strong product customization and high product precision and hardness.
Compared with traditional manufacturing, the use of additive manufacturing technology for design verification and prototyping can save time and economic costs.
Additive manufacturing also has a market in the field of repair, and the use of additive manufacturing technology can not only simplify the repair process, but also achieve the function of matching the prototype of the manufacturing material with a high degree of fidelity that cannot be achieved by traditional processes.
3.2 Objects of benefit related to additive manufacturing (3D printing).
(1) Platinum
Platinum (688333) is one of the most industrialized metal additive manufacturing enterprises in China: the company focuses on industrial-grade metal additive manufacturing (3D printing), providing customers with a full set of solutions for metal additive manufacturing technology, the business covers: metal 3D printing customized product services, equipment research and development and production, raw material development and production, structural optimization design development and process technology services (including the development of customized engineering software, etc.).
Customized services for metal 3D printing: 1) The company mainly uses three technologies: selective laser melting forming technology (SLM), laser cladding deposition technology (LSF), and arc additive manufacturing technology (WAAM). 2) The company is deeply engaged in the aerospace field, and the additively manufactured parts are widely used in bullet and arrow ship machines, which can achieve the annual delivery of more than 50,000 parts.
R&D and production of metal 3D printing equipment: The company has independently developed a series of metal 3D printing equipment such as laser selective melting forming, laser stereoscopic forming, arc additive manufacturing and so on.
Metal 3D printing raw materials: The company has a rich research foundation in metal materials, functional materials, metal matrix composites, etc., and is in an international leading position in the field of new material development for metal additive manufacturing.
Platinum is deeply engaged in the aerospace field, continues to develop new products and new markets, and has stable growth in business performance:
5.5 times in 6 years, the company's revenue increased from 166 million to 918 million from 2016 to 2022, with a CAGR of 32.9%; Net profit attributable to owners increased from 31.327 million to 79.499 million, with a CAGR of 16.8%.
In 2022, the company's revenue will be 918 million (+66.3%), the net profit attributable to the parent will be 79.499 million (+149%), and the company's revenue in 2023Q1 will be 133 million, a year-on-year increase of 48.1%.
Excluding the impact of share-based payments, the company's net profit attributable to the parent has steadily increased year by year:
In order to establish and improve the company's best-selling incentive mechanism, attract and retain outstanding talents, fully mobilize the enthusiasm of the core team, and effectively combine the interests of shareholders, the company and the personal interests of the core team, the company launched a restricted stock incentive plan in October 2020.
From 2016 to 2022, the company's net profit attributable to the parent excluding the impact of share-based payments increased from 31.33 million yuan to 242 million yuan, with a CAGR of 40.6%.
Profitability has increased year by year: from 2016 to 2022, the company's comprehensive gross profit margin increased from 42.9% to 54.6% (+11.7pct); Net profit margin attributable to parents, excluding the impact of share-based payments, was raised from 18.8% to 26.4% (+7.6pct).
3D printing customized products and 3D printing equipment and accessories have become the company's two core main businesses, accounting for a total of 96.5% of revenue in 2022: of which, from 2016 to 2022, 1) the proportion of revenue of 3D printing customized products increased from 38.9% to 50.9%, an increase of 12pct, and it has always been the company's largest business. 2) The proportion of revenue of 3D printing equipment and accessories increased from 26.2% to 45.5% (+19.3pct). 3) The proportion of raw material revenue increased from 2.5% to 3.5% (+1pct). 4) With the continuous maturity of the company's self-developed 3D printing equipment, the proportion of agency sales revenue has decreased year by year: the company mainly sells the equipment of German EOS company through the subsidiary Platinum (Hong Kong), and the proportion of revenue of this business has dropped from 29% to 0 from 2016 to 2022.
The company focuses on metal additive manufacturing technology, continues to increase research and development and technological innovation, and enhances the company's competitiveness.
The company's R&D rate has gradually increased: from 2016 to 2022, the company's R&D rate has been increased from 9.1% to 17.7% (+8.6pct), and in 2023Q1, the company's R&D rate is 31% (+0.4pct).
In 2022, the company further strengthened its R&D capacity building: R&D expenses were 163 million (+42.33%), and R&D rates were 177%, down 3pct from 2021, mainly due to large revenue growth and lower R&D rates.
(2) Huashu Hi-Tech
Farsoon Hi-Tech (688433) is one of the leading enterprises of industrial-grade additive manufacturing equipment in mainland China, and is also a rare additive manufacturing enterprise in the world with independent R&D and production capacity of 3D printing equipment, materials and software, and its sales scale ranks among the top in the world. Deeply engaged in additive manufacturing for more than ten years, the company focuses on the research and development, production and sales of industrial-grade additive manufacturing equipment:
Metal and non-metal additive manufacturing equipment "two-pronged": continuous independent innovation, the establishment of "equipment-software-materials-process-application" covering metal (SLM) and non-metal (SLS) technical routes of the whole industry chain integration independent technology system, in the large-size, multi-laser, continuous additive manufacturing and high-performance powder materials and other R&D applications in the forefront of the world.
The company has a complete intellectual property system corresponding to products and services: it has independently developed a full set of software source code for data processing system and control system of additive manufacturing equipment, and is an important enterprise in China that can load all independently developed additive manufacturing industrial software and control systems, and realize the industrialization and mass production and sales of SLM and SLS equipment.
The company has formed a complete independent technology and brand system: it has formed an independent SLS polymer powder material product and a process system that matches the diversified application of SLM and SLS equipment, forming a synergistic effect with the company's core products.
Benefiting from the growing demand in the 3D printing market, the company's performance continues to grow steadily:
From 2019 to 2022, the CAGR of the company's operating income and net profit attributable to the parent reached 43.4%/76.8% respectively: the revenue increased from 155 million yuan to 457 million yuan; Net profit attributable to owners increased from 17.95 million yuan to 99.18 million yuan.
In 2023Q1, the company's performance achieved a "good start": revenue of 100 million yuan (+29%), net profit attributable to the parent of 20.46 million yuan (+10.1%).
Profitability continued to improve: From 2019 to 2023Q1, the company's comprehensive gross profit margin decreased from 58.8% to 57% (-1.8pct), and the net profit margin attributable to the parent increased from 11.6% to 20.3% (+8.7pct).
3D printing equipment and auxiliary accessories are the core main business of Farsoon: 1) From 2019 to 2022, the proportion of the company's revenue of 3D printing equipment and auxiliary accessories increased from 80.5% to 88.2% (+7.7pct); Among them, from 2019 to 2021, the company's metal equipment and auxiliary parts revenue accounted for 43.39%, 67.09% and 81.15% respectively. 2) From 2019 to 2021, the proportion of the company's aerospace business revenue increased from 20.8% to 54.8% (+34pct).
(3) Excellent Aviation Branch
Chaozhuo Aviation is one of the few enterprises in China that has mastered cold spray solid-state additive manufacturing technology and industrialized application in the field of aircraft maintenance and remanufacturing, mainly engaged in customized additive manufacturing and airborne equipment maintenance business.
At the beginning of its establishment, the company focused on the maintenance of aviation airborne equipment: mainly engaged in the maintenance of pneumatic accessories, hydraulic accessories, fuel accessories and electrical accessories of military and civil aircraft.
The company has established the company's cold spraying solid state additive manufacturing technology system: 1) After years of research and development and innovation, the company has achieved high-intensity deposition of a variety of metal materials, and successfully applied cold spraying solid state additive technology to the field of body structure remanufacturing;
2) The company continues to develop and expand the application scenarios and downstream markets of additive manufacturing technology: it has developed target materials suitable for the field of electronic devices and aviation fastener products suitable for aviation high temperature and high pressure environments.
The company mainly serves the military and its subordinate aircraft overhaul plants, military industry group subordinate units and civil aviation operating enterprises and other customers. Based on the company's leading technical level in the field of cold spraying solid-state additive manufacturing, stable and reliable product quality and long-term cooperation history with the military, the company is an important supplier of fatigue crack cold spray repair of fatigue cracks in landing gear girder of various types of fighter aircraft in A and B base-level overhaul plants.
The company's performance grew steadily from 2017 to 2021 and declined in 2022:
From 2017 to 2021, the CAGR of the company's revenue and net profit attributable to the parent were 50.6%/125.4%, respectively: the revenue increased from 27.45 million to 141 million; Net profit attributable to owners increased from 2.74 million to 70.73 million.
In 2022, the company achieved revenue of 140 million yuan (-1.1%), mainly due to macroeconomic factors and other factors, and the decrease in market demand; The net profit attributable to the parent was 59.09 million (-16.5%), mainly due to the increase in the cost of raw materials and the increase in sales expenses.
In 2023Q1, the company achieved revenue of 60.05 million (+40.7%), and net profit attributable to the parent of 21.49 million yuan (-16.6%)
The company's profitability is generally on an upward trend:
The company's gross profit margin increased from 35.8% to 67% (+21.2pct) from 2017 to 2021, and the company's gross profit margin decreased from 67% to 53.2% (-13.8pct) in 2021-2022.
From 2017 to 2020, the company's net profit margin attributable to owners was increased from 10% to 52.4% (+42.4pct), and from 2020 to 2022, the company's net profit margin attributable to owners was reduced from 52.4% to 42.3% (-10.1pct).
The company takes customized additive manufacturing as its core business, accounting for nearly 70% of revenue: from 2018 to 2021, the proportion of revenue of the company's customized additive manufacturing business increased from 30.4% to 71.4% (+41pct), and the proportion was 67.9% in 2022, which remained basically stable.
(4) Other beneficiary targets
According to the upstream and downstream relationship of the additive manufacturing industry chain, we sort out the investment targets as follows:
Ingredients:
【Research powder】A leading enterprise in the field of copper-based metal powder materials and tin-based solder powder materials, the main products include advanced copper-based metal powder materials, high-end microelectronic tin-based solder powder materials and 3D printing powder materials.
【AVIC Matt (unlisted)】Focus on the R&D and production of metal powder materials and metal 3D printing equipment, and master core technologies such as high-performance metal powder material design and preparation, intelligent additive molding equipment and technology.
Components and control systems:
【Golden Orange】Laser galvanometer control system faucet, developed 3D printing control system.
Integrated layout of equipment and industrial chain:
【Fenghua Zhuoli (New Third Board)】Industrial 3D printer solution provider, PCM droplet jet 3DP printing pioneer, deeply engaged in the research and development and innovation of binder jetting 3D sand printing technology.
【Xianlin 3D (New Third Board)】A scientific and technological innovation enterprise with independent research and development of "from 3D digital data design to 3D printing direct manufacturing" software and hardware integration and complete technology chain.
【Yijia 3D (not listed)】Professional additive manufacturing equipment manufacturer and application solution supplier, through metal powder bed melting (MPBF), polymer powder bed sintering (PPBF) and light curing (SLA) to develop and produce industrial-grade additive manufacturing equipment, while providing materials, services and software solutions.
【Xin Jinghe (unlisted)】Metal adding/subtractive manufacturing overall solution provider, relying on 3D printing intelligent manufacturing, for aviation, aerospace, navigation, nuclear power and other high-end manufacturing fields, specializing in providing 3D printing equipment R & D and manufacturing, complex metal component customized product manufacturing, machining and sheet metal welding, product design and optimization, software customized development, product repair and reproduction and other solutions.
Services:
【Yinbang Co., Ltd.】Feierkang, a shareholding company, is a leading domestic metal additive manufacturing technology complete solution provider, with three business units: special metal powder division, 3D printing solution division, and special manufacturing technology division.
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