the reasons for the short-term development of the 3D printing industry are as follows: firstly, the increasing investment in research and development makes the technology progress continuously, and the 3d printer has more powerful functions, lower cost and faster speed. Since 212, the number of patent applications in the field of 3D printing has increased in a short time, with an increase rate of over 4%. In addition, the types of printed materials are constantly enriched, and the scope of use of 3D printers is also expanding. 3D printing materials mainly include metal materials, polymer materials and ceramic materials, among which plastic is still the most commonly used material, but metal materials have increased rapidly, and the utilization rate has increased to about 36% in 218. The widespread use of metal materials has promoted the sales growth of industrial 3D printers and the expansion of 3D printing from the consumer market to the high-end manufacturing market. Thirdly, in order to accelerate product development, improve product performance and improve the response speed of users' needs in automobile, electronics, aerospace, medical care, shoemaking and other industries, we actively explore the application of 3D printing technology in industrial production. Fourth, primary and secondary schools and education and training institutions have set up courses related to 3D printing to promote the full popularization of 3D printers in schools, families and small and medium-sized enterprises.
3D printing requires no mold opening, integral molding and short production cycle. It is very suitable for producing and delivering goods with complex structure and small batch production in a short time. Therefore, it is widely used in prototype design, customized production and complex component manufacturing. However, 3D printing also has obvious disadvantages: 3D printers are expensive, take a long time to produce and have no economies of scale. The cost of large quantities of goods is obviously higher than that of traditional processing methods; The price of printed materials is high and the categories are very limited. Compared with the traditional precision machining methods, there are still differences between the strength of materials and the machining accuracy.
This industry is still developing at a high speed. With the development of 3D printers, materials and post-processing technology, the application fields will also expand.