Recently, Hay Think entered the high-tech zone company Suzhou Beifeng Laser Technology Co., Ltd., and explored the secrets of this company. It has been recognized as a “potential unicorn enterprise in the Southern Jiangsu Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone” and Suzhou City in 2019. “Unicorns” cultivate enterprises and other honorable enterprises, and see how “unicorns” “ride the wind and waves” in the field of metal 3D printing.
Break the technology blockade
From the design and manufacture of the world’s first full-size 3D printed turbojet engine that won the French Safran Innovation First Prize, it has been produced in small batches and successfully applied to aircraft. Through integrated design and simulation design simulation, Beifeng Laser not only reduced the original 200 parts of the engine to a dozen today, but also achieved a weight reduction of about 15%.
For 3D printing engines, software is the first challenge. “At present, China’s 3D printing companies generally use imported software from abroad, so there are certain limitations in mastering the key technical aspects of 3D printing parameters.” According to Sun Mingfeng, Operation Manager of Beifeng Laser, the company’s team relies on years of technical accumulation and independent research and development. A set of equipment control software was created, and completely broke the foreign technology blockade.
The enterprise has independence in the whole set of software and product parameter setting. This means that when printing new materials or want to change some parameters, the company has complete independence and autonomy, and is at the same level as foreign imported software.
For this reason, companies can design product structures and materials according to the working conditions and performance requirements of different positions of the engine, and independently optimize the process parameters of the nickel-based alloys, titanium alloys and other materials used to ensure that all the mechanical properties of the 3D printed components reach aviation standard.
Overcome technical problems
In addition to aircraft engines, Beifeng Laser has also successfully achieved the 3D printing of the first integrated hollow blade of a heavy-duty gas turbine in China. The blade is a high-temperature alloy material. The outside of the blade is composed of complex curved surfaces and the inside is composed of complex internal flow channels. The blade has a double-layer hollow thin-walled structure and has more than 900 holes of different sizes around the body.
Traditional manufacturing processes are usually completed by a combination of complex processes such as casting, welding, and drilling. The development cycle of blades is usually 12 months, and the risk of failure is high. By means of self-developed software, Beifeng Laser has implemented multiple iterations of simulations, completed the design of ultra-low residual stress 3D printing models, and at the same time, has overcome the technical difficulties of complex curved surfaces, internal runners, and ultra-multiple air holes.
Sun Mingfeng proudly introduced that, in the end, the company completed the trial production of 12 blades in only 3 months, shortening the survival development cycle by more than 90%, and at the same time the printing qualification rate was 100%, and the project was successfully completed.
Expand the main R&D business
Independent research and development and technology integration have allowed Beifeng Laser to break through the technical bottleneck of the industry. Since it settled in the high-tech zone in September 2017, Beifeng Laser has given full play to its 3D printing technology scientific research accumulation, industrial background, team and technical advantages to carry out the research and development of related hardware and software and manufacturing processes in the metal 3D printing industry chain. At present, the company’s main research and development business has expanded to the aerospace and medical fields, and has begun to provide solutions for the entire industry chain of the metal 3D printing industry.
For example, in the medical field, the company recently successfully printed an important part of the medical CT scanner that has a direct impact on the imaging clarity-tungsten alloy anti-scatter grid parts. After testing, all data of the printed parts meet the industrial application standards. This part will be put into CT scanner for batch application in the future.
Sun Mingfeng said that the traditional anti-scatter grid structure is composed of two-dimensional thin sheets, which is extremely difficult to process, and it is difficult to guarantee the anti-scatter requirements. On a high-speed rotating frame, the anti-scatter grid is prone to structural deformation, which affects the image quality. At the same time, the anti-scatter grid junction is usually made of tungsten alloy, and its extremely high hardness and melting point make it extremely easy to crack in 3D printing.
After a lot of material research and process route design, Beifeng Laser successfully broke through the current technical difficulties of tungsten alloy 3D printing. Beifeng laser technology team specially developed a unique new function in the self-developed software for printing such extreme wall thickness parts. This function can allocate different laser paths according to the wall thickness of the parts, breaking the traditional laser path distribution scheme. It overcomes the technical difficulties of high energy and variability in printing thin walls. This also makes it possible to print workpieces with a wall thickness of 0.1mm or even thinner, breaking the record in the field of metal 3D printing with extreme wall thickness.
At the same time, the technical team carried out material modification to solve the problem of the difficult printing of tungsten alloy. Sun Mingfeng said: “Finally, after experimenting with nearly 220 sets of process parameters, we successfully printed a tungsten alloy anti-scatter grid with a wall thickness of 0.1mm, a forming accuracy of 0.02mm, and a density of 99%. Through tungsten alloy materials The overall rigidity of the printed anti-scatter grid is much higher than the traditional grid standard, which ensures the structural stability under high centrifugal force during actual application.”
Sun Mingfeng said that at present, Beifeng Laser has applied for more than 100 invention patents, and there are no more than three companies in the city like this in China, and Beifeng Laser should be the first one. In the future, Beifeng Laser will Continue to dig in the field of metal 3D printing and plan to be listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board within three to five years.