In recent years, the world's major countries have increased efforts to support 3D printing technology, and the global 3D printing industry has developed rapidly. 3D printers have been widely used in many fields, ranging from children's toys and crafts to highly complex parts used in airplanes, automobiles and rockets.

The 3D printing industry is mainly composed of 3D printing equipment, 3D printing materials and 3D printing services. In 2019, the scale of China's 3D printing equipment industry is 7.086 billion yuan, accounting for 45%; the scale of 3D printing service industry is 4.567 billion yuan, accounting for 29%; the scale of 3D printing material industry is 4.094 billion yuan, accounting for 26%.

After years of development, additive manufacturing technology has formed a complete industrial chain. The upstream covers additive manufacturing raw materials and parts, such as metal materials, plastic materials, ceramic materials, etc., while the midstream is dominated by 3D printing equipment manufacturers and printing services. The printing technologies involved include fused deposition molding FDM, UV curing molding technology SLA, etc. downstream industry applications have covered medical field, aerospace, machinery and equipment, personal market, automobile industry and other fields.

3D printers have been widely used in many fields

The downstream of 3D printing industry chain is mainly divided into two categories: civil consumption field, such as photography, catering, education, etc.; industrial field, such as traditional aviation, automobile, shipping, electronics, household appliances, medicine, construction and other industries, as well as jewelry, fashion, food, textile and archaeological fields.

3D printing integrated molding, no need to open mold, short production cycle, especially suitable for the production and rapid delivery of structural complex products, small batch products, so it is widely used in the field of prototype production, customized production and complex parts manufacturing. However, there are also obvious shortcomings in 3D printing: 3D printers have high prices, long production time, and do not have economies of scale, and the production cost of mass products is significantly higher than that of traditional processing methods.

FDM desktop 3D printer is a small 3D printer using "melt deposition" technology. It is especially suitable for teaching, home DIY and other places to complete small model making. In the field of education, 3D printing can visualize the contents of textbooks, making it easier for children to learn. Senior students can also be involved in the practice of 3D printing operation to make 3D printing objects "move", such as atomic models and teaching tool molds commonly used in chemistry classes.

Calibrated desktop 3D printers can produce parts with high dimensional accuracy (usually within ± 0.5 mm) and have the same minimum feature size (i.e. about 1 mm) as industrial grade 3D printers. This accuracy is sufficient for most applications. Most of the materials used in desktop printing allow precise processing of key dimensions or detailed features in post-processing steps.

The desktop 3D printers used by ordinary people often use fdm3d printing technology. The products printed by this technology are closer to the daily necessities of the people, and the operation is simple and convenient, so it is sought after by some users. At the same time, users have more expectations for desktop 3D printers.

Some 3D printing manufacturers are based on the needs of customers and strive to launch 3D printing equipment with various functions and convenient use. Last year, for example, desktop metal, a maker of 3D printers, launched a new desktop 3D printer fiber, which integrates AFP automatic fiber placement technology. Its outstanding function is to be able to 3D print composite materials, combining 3D printing with composite molding technology to manufacture composite parts with high strength, high precision and high stiffness.

Due to the lack of learning platform, weak faculty, imperfect transformation mechanism of innovation achievements and lack of talent training mechanism, the further development of China's 3D printing industry is restricted. It is believed that after overcoming the relevant problems, China's 3D printing equipment manufacturing and process innovation will achieve more new results. In the future, industrial 3D printing will be widely used in the transformation and upgrading of Chinese traditional industries and the development of strategic emerging industries, especially in the field of metal 3D printing, which will show a strong growth momentum.