The metal micro-casting and forging synchronous composite additive manufacturing technology and equipment jointly developed by China's leading metal 3D printing equipment manufacturer WHTY Additive Technology Group and Huazhong University of Science and Technology won the first prize of the 2019 provincial technical invention award.
Not long ago, the "Technology and Equipment for Simultaneous Ultra-short Process Manufacturing of Micro-casting and Forging of Large and Complex High-end Parts" developed by the team nominated the first prize of the 2020 National Technical Invention Award. Metal 3D printing "micro-casting and forging" technology has carried out technical research and development for nearly 20 years. It has achieved multi-degree-of-freedom synergy, excellent organizational performance, and stable and reliable micro-casting and forging synchronous composite additive manufacturing for the first time in the world, effectively supporting China’s large-scale Independent innovation of high-end equipment is expected to lead the technological revolution of short-process manufacturing and the green transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.
"This technology has made outstanding innovations in technical principles, processes and equipment. It has successfully developed micro-forging and forging equipment for the first time at home and abroad, and has won more than 20 patents and other innovative achievements. The overall technology is at the international leading level."
"Metal 3D printing "micro-casting" has subverted the traditional domestic and foreign machinery manufacturing process and equipment, and is expected to end the traditional heavy industry manufacturing method and solve the bottleneck of complex large-scale parts manufacturing.
Metal 3D printing "micro-casting and forging" achieves the first high-quality, tough and reliable forgings of the world's first 3D printing equipment, the world's largest forging. The high-quality, short-process green manufacturing technology is the strategic commanding height of the sustainable development of various powerful countries. For more than 100 years, the world's manufacturing industry has been using casting-forging-hot-cutting multi-process step-by-step, long process, large forging machine, and heavy pollution mode to manufacture forgings. Large and complex parts are limited by the forging area of the forging machine and cannot be integrated. Forging can only be tailored after block forging, which reduces reliability. The emerging additive manufacturing technology (3D printing technology) has casting without forging, and fatigue performance is not as good as forgings.
At the beginning of 2016, the joint R&D team finally developed the first 3D printing equipment for the world’s largest forging, which broke through the difficulties of “synchronization of casting and forging, shape control, defect monitoring, and independent repair” and developed the world’s largest forging (16m2 ) 3D printing short-process manufacturing equipment, and printing the world's first batch of forgings: railway key components frogs and heavy-duty ultra-long rails, COMAC C919 bearing parts, ultra-high pressure corrosion-resistant high-precision shaped shell.
"We reduced the action that originally required 80,000 tons of force to 1/80,000, which can be completed with less than 1 ton of force, saving up to 90% energy." Zhang Haiou said, "After verification, the forgings are fatigued The service life exceeds the level of international aviation forgings, and the forming efficiency is three times the top level abroad."
Metal 3D printing "micro-casting and forging" technology provides a "Chinese program" for large-scale propeller manufacturing. Metal 3D printing "micro-casting and forging" technology is not only useful in the manufacture of "sky" aerospace key components, but also in the "submarine" ship and submarine manufacturing. It is also useful. The traditional manufacturing technology of propeller blades for ships mainly includes casting and welding. For manufacturing technology, the casting process of large and super large propellers is cumbersome and the casting process is complicated. In addition, traditional propellers mostly use copper alloys. Due to the large thickness of the blades, it is not only easy to produce large noise, but also restrict the propulsion speed.
Using metal 3D printing "micro-casting and forging" technology to manufacture large propeller blades, combining automatic welding technology and multi-axis linkage CNC machining technology, while using micro-casting and forging technology, adding micro-area forging on the basis of micro-area casting can optimize The comprehensive mechanical properties of the material. After comprehensive inspection, it has entered the stage of large-scale production and practical application.
Professor Wang Guilan introduced: "After overcoming the manufacturing difficulties of large ship propellers, we have successively "gnawed" the "hard bones" of large ultra-high pressure pumps and high and low frequency heavy-duty complex forgings to provide more powerful ships and nuclear power. , Stable'China Power'." Since 2016, the Zhang Haiou team has used metal 3D printing "micro-casting and forging" technology to develop a variety of thrusters and key components for dynamic load-bearing capacity for cooperative units.
The shipping industry is an important symbol of the rise of great powers and comprehensive national strength. Zhang Haiou said that in recent years, China has become one of the most important shipbuilding centers in the world. As an important province of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River city group, Hubei is an important inland shipbuilding industry base, and there is a huge market demand for core parts for ship propulsion products. Among them, there is an urgent need for direct rapid prototyping, shortening the manufacturing cycle, high efficiency and low cost and the manufacture of integrated components.
The use of metal 3D printing "micro-casting and forging" technology has completely changed the traditional mechanical manufacturing model that has long relied on giant forging machines and long process heavy pollution. It not only cracked the simultaneous printing of additive materials, deformation of equivalent materials and reduction of milling on complex curved surface construction. The "neck problem" of the integrated manufacturing of materials on the same equipment will also easily hand over the tasks that must be completed by industrial "elephants" in the past to intelligent industrial "ants" operations.
Putting the core technology of high-end manufacturing in your own hands The 2018 General Secretary emphasized at the meeting of the Academy of Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that the key core technology is not available, cannot be bought, or not. Only by holding key core technologies in your own hands can you fundamentally guarantee national economic security, national defense security, and other security. Metal 3D printing "micro-casting and forging" technology solves the "jam problem" of complex large-scale parts manufacturing, which is of great significance to the independent innovation of the country's heavy equipment. Related products have been used in the equipment manufacturing field of heavy aircraft such as large aircraft, aero engines, gas turbines, aerospace, ships, advanced rail transit, nuclear power, etc.
"With the emergence of various new metal materials in the future, we will further expand the performance database of metal materials suitable for additive manufacturing; with the new design and new material requirements for high-performance parts in the field of advanced high-end equipment development, we will also commit to We have developed more special manufacturing processes and equipment for high-strength, high-fatigue life, and light-weight parts to ensure that the core technology of high-end manufacturing is firmly in our hands." Zhang Haiou introduced.
"Facing the increasingly fierce, high-tech competition in the world related to the national games, seizing the commanding heights and laying a long-term position is our role as a contemporary Chinese scientist. The first prize of the Hubei Provincial Invention Award this time represents the industry's recognition of us. It is a new starting point. This starting point encourages us to continue to promote the spirit of scientists in the new era, only to fight for the day and to live up to Shaohua, and work hard to achieve the "Chinese printing"!" Zhang Haiou clang said forcefully.