In July 2019, China's large metal 3D printer manufacturer NJZK Laser Technology Co., Ltd. shipped a 3350mm * 3400mm * 4200mm (length * width * height) and weighed 20 tons of WAAM1500 arc additive manufacturing equipment.
NJZK said that the design concept of the whole machine delivery is to reduce the installation procedures at the customer's site, and the equipment can enter the commissioning state after reaching the customer's site, effectively improving the work efficiency at the site. At present, many large 3D printing equipments of NJZK (LDM4030, LDM8060, LDM1500, etc.) are delivered as a whole.
Arc Additive Technology Features
Arc additive manufacturing technology has attracted more and more attention due to its low cost, high forming efficiency, and strong material adaptability. Especially the efficient and fast near-net forming of large-sized and complex-shaped components has other additive technologies unmatched. Efficiency and cost advantages:
Low manufacturing cost. Compared with laser and electron beam additive manufacturing processes, arc additive manufacturing is lower in terms of equipment cost and material cost than the former two;
No need to open the mold. Can directly and complexly manufacture complex components at low cost, which has wide market application;
High material utilization. Because the wire material is used as the raw material, the material utilization rate is 30% higher than that of the powder feeding laser deposition molding (LDM);
high productivity. The arc heat input is large, reaching a molding speed of several kg / h, and the density of the molded part is high, and there is no limit on the size of the molded part;
It can form materials with high reflectivity to laser, such as aluminum alloy and copper alloy.
RC-WAAM1500 arc additive manufacturing equipment system includes forming heat source (welder), wire feeding system, machine tool host (including CNC system), gas circulation purification system, inert gas processing room, cooling system, complete machine control monitoring system and 3D printing Molding software, argon station, etc. It can realize various arc additive manufacturing processes such as TIG (Tungsten Arc Welding), MIG / MAG (Melted Gas Shielded Welding) and CMT (Cold Metal Transition Welding).
WAAM1500 arc type additive manufacturing equipment, the forming size can reach 1500X1500X1500mm, the maximum wire feeding speed can reach 1-5m / min.
Molding material
WAAM1500 arc type additive manufacturing equipment can quickly form parts or parts of stainless steel, titanium alloy, aluminum alloy, copper alloy, low alloy steel and other materials.
Application prospects
Because of the advantages of low cost, high molding efficiency, and strong material adaptability, arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) technology has great advantages in the fields of defense and military industry, aerospace, energy and power. Although the current WAAM technology still has problems such as low forming accuracy and poor forming stability, with the continuous expansion of industry applications and the continuous improvement of the software, hardware, and process stability of the forming process, this technology will have wider application prospects in the future.