New professions are now available ⑦｜Talent gap of 8 million! See how 3D printing "magicians" create "worlds" in a creative way
2024-08-16
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
3D printed "golden" keys, 3D printed airplane blind boxes, 3D printed "Matsuyama Tiger"... This year, some college admission letters made a stunning appearance in the form of 3D printed products, full of technology and deeply loved by students.
3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a new type of productivity. While injecting new impetus into the high-quality development of China's manufacturing industry, it is also gradually entering our lives.
This has given rise to a new profession: additive manufacturing equipment operators, who are engaged in the installation, commissioning, repair and maintenance of additive manufacturing equipment, as well as production operations and operation management. Like "magicians", they can turn wild imaginations into products, give materials new "life", and apply them to aerospace, medical, mold, automobile manufacturing, and even jewelry, art creation and other fields.
Xu Yongjie, an additive manufacturing equipment operator at Chongqing Mechanical and Electrical Additive Manufacturing Co., Ltd., is one of them.
▲ Chongqing Mechanical and Electrical Additive Manufacturing Co., Ltd., additive manufacturing equipment operator Xu Yongjie (right) is performing 3D printing. Photo provided by the interviewed unit
Everything can be printed
Accurate to 20 microns
Walking into Chongqing Mechanical and Electrical Additive Manufacturing Co., Ltd., in the huge metal 3D printing workshop, there is no scene of welding sparks flying like in the traditional foundry workshop, nor the rumbling sound of equipment operating. Instead, there are quietly operating 3D printers, wire cutting machines and heat treatment equipment.
Xu Yongjie stared at the computer screen and moved the mouse gently. In the printer, a laser beam jumped and shot at the flat powder. With a slight "chi" sound, according to the pre-set scanning path and parameters, the laser beam shot quickly in the powder. In an instant, you can see a clear pattern formed after the powder melts.
▲Xu Yongjie is operating a 3D printer. Photo provided by the interviewed unit
22-year-old Xu Yongjie, who majored in 3D printing, has been working in the company for four years.
"This is a model designed according to customer needs. You only need to transfer the relevant data to the printer to print the product." Xu Yongjie said that he was printing a flow channel-shaped nozzle for cooling the mold - 219.5 mm high and 35 mm in diameter. The printer can print 16 of them at the same time, each weighing 0.3 kg, and it takes about 72 hours.
Xu Yongjie told reporters that the thickness of each layer melted by the laser beam is only 0.05 mm, which is invisible to the naked eye. The laser beam has to melt 4,392 layers of metal powder back and forth to complete the printing of the entire product. When the laser beam irradiates the metal powder, its energy will instantly heat the metal powder to above the melting point, so that the powder particles melt and fuse with each other.
"Through modeling and calculation, we use lasers to deposit metal powders into shape. Compared with manufacturing processes such as welding or milling with CNC machines, what we do is 'addition', so it is called 'additive manufacturing'," said Dr. Duan Huming, deputy general manager of Chongqing Mechanical and Electrical Additive Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Dr. Duan Huming said that as an interdisciplinary subject, additive manufacturing engineering and technical personnel must not only understand materials, heat treatment, and mechanical processing, but also be proficient in computer operation and familiar with two-dimensional image recognition and three-dimensional software.
3D printing is not easy. Xu Yongjie said that the biggest difficulty for beginners is facing complex models. The printed products may warp and become defective. "When you see a 3D model, you should first observe where the printing difficulty is. If it is hollowed out, you need to add support to the computer pattern to prevent warping. Sometimes you need to modify the printing parameters based on experience."
Dr. Duan Huming said that the company's 3D printing can be accurate to 20 microns, and can print everything from complex and precise mechanical parts to lifelike product models, from fantastic architectural prototypes to personalized daily necessities. It can be said that whatever you think of is what you get, and everything can be printed.
Empowering traditional manufacturing
New materials, high-end equipment, etc. have great application potential
The Economist magazine believes that 3D printing technology will drive the third industrial revolution.
Why do you say that?
3D printing technology breaks through the limitations of traditional manufacturing technology on shape complexity and material complexity, making it possible to efficiently manufacture personalized, customized, and complex industrial parts. 3D printing has the characteristics of short time, low cost, and lightweight products.
Dr. Duan Huming used a rocket engine nozzle as an example. The nickel-based alloy nozzle involves a total of 248 parts, including 122 nozzles, which are made using traditional casting technology, including casting, welding and drilling, and the product quality is difficult to control.
If the traditional production method is used, workers have to drill thousands of cross holes in the copper sleeve and fix the copper sleeve to 122 nozzles. The assembly is complicated and time-consuming, and the assembly quality is difficult to control. In addition, the manufacturing time is 3 months, and the product replacement takes about half a year. If 3D printing is used, the design is simplified, 248 parts can be printed as one part, the wall thickness is greatly reduced, the weight is reduced by 25%, the printing time is as short as 35 hours, and the product replacement time is shortened from half a year to a few days.
Moreover, data shows that for the same lightweight frame of new energy vehicles, the traditional production cycle is 40 days. However, if 3D printing is used, the finished aluminum alloy casting can be delivered in 6 days, the cost is reduced by 30%, and the sand mold accuracy control is also increased from ±1 mm to ±0.3 mm.
"3D printing has great application potential in new materials, new energy, high-end equipment and other fields, and is an important force in promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing." Industry insiders said.
In recent years, Europe and the United States have used 3D printing to produce complete rockets, engines and other products, driving the rapid development of emerging industries. my country's 3D printing equipment output has maintained a double-digit high-speed growth in recent years, with a year-on-year increase of 51.6% in the first half of this year. The 3D printing industry has shown a clear trend of agglomeration, and has basically formed an industrial space development pattern with the Bohai Rim, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta as the core and some areas in the central and western regions as the link. 3D printing products are mainly concentrated in the fields of industrial machinery, aerospace, and automobiles, followed by consumer goods/electronics, medical, scientific research, government/military and construction.
The talent gap is about 8 million people
Accelerating the training of personnel at different levels
Sports shoes, dentures, large architectural sand tables, 3D portraits... The exhibition hall of Chongqing Mechanical and Electrical Additive Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is filled with 3D printed objects of all sizes. The printed metal parts are exquisitely crafted, small and delicate, and the animal models are lifelike.
Dr. Duan Huming said that currently, the penetration rate of 3D printing in traditional industrial fields is relatively low and is in its infancy. It is expected that in the next decade, the global 3D printing industry will be in a period of rapid growth, with the depth and breadth of applications continuing to expand, and developing from simple conceptual models to direct manufacturing of functional components.
In order to seize the opportunity, the company is expanding the scale of its 3D printing products and has begun to purchase more laser printing equipment and introduce more additive manufacturing engineering and technical personnel. By then, the product printing efficiency will more than double and the product production capacity will also double.
It is understood that Chongqing's 3D printing industry is also developing rapidly. There are already dozens of companies focusing on 3D printing equipment production, material supply, software and data services, but there is a general talent gap. Data from the 3D Office of the National Manufacturing Informatization Training Center shows that the talent gap for 3D applications is about 8 million.
It is gratifying that with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security listing "additive manufacturing engineering and technical personnel" as a new occupation, the training of additive manufacturing engineering and technical personnel has developed in a stepped manner. In addition to vocational schools, more universities now offer 3D printing majors.
Dr. Duan Huming suggested that my country should strengthen the construction of strategic talent, list a separate 3D printing category in the national talent training plan, and attract and cultivate 3D printing technology innovation and industry leaders at multiple levels; schools that offer majors should increase investment in laboratory construction, teaching equipment, and teacher training, so that students can obtain skill certificates while in school and turn more wild imaginations into reality.
More reading:
New profession, now available①|Operating robots to repair houses! Have you heard of smart construction industry technicians?
New profession, on the job②|The rebar worker turned into an "Internet celebrity" anchor, the village's local specialties can no longer be hidden!
New profession, now on the job③|How does AI go from being a "novice" to being a "full-fledged expert"? It all depends on how the AI trainer "teaches" →
New professions are on the job④|New "green collar" professions are here! Energy storage power station operation and maintenance managers guard the city's "power bank"
New professions are now available ⑤| Talent shortage! With just a few clicks, cloud network intelligent operators can inspect 17,000 servers in 5 minutes
New profession, on the job⑥|Industrial Internet operation and maintenance engineers enter the factory to save more than 50% of manufacturing costs
