As a cutting-edge manufacturing technology, Nitinol alloy 3D printing technology integrates design and manufacturing. In recent years, it has attracted widespread attention from all walks of life and has shown broad application prospects in high-precision fields such as aerospace, national defense and military, biomedicine, automobile and high-speed rail. However, compared with traditional manufacturing technology, it started late and has only developed for about 30 years. There is still a big gap compared with the world's advanced countries. For example, the forming efficiency of nitinol alloy parts is low, the precision has not yet reached the high-precision level, the preparation cost of equipment and materials is high, and large-scale industrial and commercial applications have not yet been achieved.
nitinol alloy 3D printing technology
In particular, the problem of suppressing defects in formed parts. The development trend of nitinol alloy 3D printing technology in the future.
In terms of materials
We develop new production equipment and preparation processes for spherical nitinol alloy powders, improve the quality of nitinol powders (particle size, sphericity, fluidity, gas inclusions, etc.), and then improve the organization and mechanical properties of parts. In addition, reduce costs by increasing the yield of powders and recycling powders.
In terms of process
Humans are further optimizing the process of 3D printing technology, suppressing defects in the forming process, and improving the mechanical properties of formed parts. Key issues such as the evolution law of internal stress of parts during the forming process, deformation and cracking behavior, and defect generation mechanism are still key issues that need to be studied in the future.
In terms of detection
With the development of 3D printed parts towards large-scale, complex and precise directions, many traditional non-destructive testing methods have blind spots, and new non-destructive testing technologies need to be developed; online detection technology through real-time monitoring of organization and defects is one of the key research directions in the future; in addition, establishing and improving non-destructive testing standards is the basis for the widespread application of 3D printing technology.
In terms of equipment
Nitinol memory alloy should improve the forming efficiency and forming accuracy of the equipment, and reduce costs. In addition, large-scale industrial-grade printing equipment should be developed to gradually realize large-scale production and application.
In general, the global research on defects in the forming process of nitinol alloy parts, such as spheroidization, cracks, pores, warping deformation, etc., is still in its initial stage, and there is still a lot of research work that needs to be carried out urgently.
