After more than 200 hours of continuous work, a large-sized titanium alloy complex close to the limit of the forming space of the equipment was put into shape at the Additive Manufacturing Center of Kunming University of Science and Technology on September 7. This is also the largest single titanium alloy complex that has been formed to date using the laser pointer selection melting method.
Laser selective melting is a kind of metal 3D printing method. It uses laser as a heat source to scan the paved metal powder according to the shape data of the discrete parts of the parts, so that the metal powder is melted and accumulated point by point, and the metal parts are directly manufactured. The metal parts manufactured by this method have excellent mechanical properties, high surface quality and dimensional accuracy, and are hot research topics in the field of metal 3D printing. The titanium alloy complex made by Professor Li Zhenhua’s research group has a size of 250×250×257 mm and a total of parts and support exceeding 21 kg.
According to reports, titanium alloy has excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, and is widely used in aerospace, chemical, medical and other fields. In the process of metal laser 3D printing, high residual stress is generated. The problems of stress deformation and cracking during the formation of complex structural parts have always been the biggest challenge for metal 3D printing. These problems are more common in titanium alloy laser 3D printing. protruding. Professor Li Zhenhua and his team carried out a lot of preliminary work in powder and composition control, component structure and position optimization, support design and stress release, remote monitoring, etc., and finally determined the test plan, which accumulated for the printing of large complex titanium alloy parts. Valuable experience.
In recent years, Kunming University of Science and Technology Additive Manufacturing Center has made great progress in 3D printing research in the fields of aerospace, medical, and mold. At present, more than 5,700 undergraduates enter the manufacturing center each year to study and carry out innovative activities; more than 50 professional and technical personnel and doctoral and master students are engaged in research at the center.