Sinolink: Paying attention to the growth potential of DED technology in commercial aerospace, focusing on domestic enterprises actively developing DED technology routes.

Sinolink released a research report stating that the commercial aerospace industry is in a period of rapid growth, and the penetration rate of 3D printing is expected to continue to increase. The DED technology route has rare technical advantages and has good growth prospects in the field of commercial aerospace 3D printing. It is recommended to pay attention to domestic enterprises actively deploying the DED technology route. Some key points from Sinolink: What is DED? DED is one of the main technology routes for metal 3D printing: the main technology routes for metal 3D printing are PBF (Powder Bed Fusion) and DED (Directed Energy Deposition). DED is a 3D printing process that melts and deposits materials using focused thermal energy. A focused laser beam moves according to a predetermined path under control, and a powder nozzle directly feeds metal powder (or filament material) into the melt pool formed on a solid substrate by the laser beam, thus completing the 3D printing layer by layer. Overseas companies have been laying out earlier, and domestic enterprises are catching up The U.S. company Optomec commercialized and promoted DED technology earlier, and the DED equipment they developed is now being used in the industrial field. The Direct Metal Deposition technology developed by South Korea's Insstek (a type of DED) has been used multiple times in aerospace rocket nozzle applications. Trumpf has integrated DED technology with existing five-axis milling/turning machines to achieve integrated printing and machining, and has achieved a high level of maturity. Domestic enterprises are currently catching up, with Zhongke Yuchen's powder-fed metal 3D printing equipment using core components with independent intellectual property rights (such as processing heads, powder feeders, and process software) widely used in the aerospace, automotive manufacturing, and other fields. Jiuyu Jianmu is the first domestic company to apply DED multi-metal composite printing technology to the field of rocket engines, while Rongsu Technology uses Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) to print key components for the aerospace industry. Why is the application potential of DED technology in the field of commercial aerospace 3D printing promising? DED has rare technical advantages in 3D printing of certain components in commercial aerospace: DED has various rare advantages such as no size restrictions, the ability to achieve multi-material composite 3D printing, and the ability to achieve repair and remanufacturing, making it especially suitable for applications in the commercial aerospace field. For example, rocket combustion chamber cavities typically use a two-part structure that can be completed with a nickel 625 outer layer printed on a copper alloy liner using DED technology, which cannot be achieved using the PBF technology route and would be at a disadvantage in terms of processing time and product performance due to multiple printing followed by welding. "Feeling their way across the river with NASA," the report believes that the penetration rate of domestic DED technology is expected to increase: Overall, DED technology has already been implemented in areas such as aerospace and has achieved significant economic and time benefits. NASA has developed multiple technology routes for DED processing, significantly reducing printing time (L-PBF over 90 days, LP-DED less than 14 days), breakthroughs in multi-alloy 3D printing (LW-DED), 100% material utilization, and high deposition efficiency (EB-DED), with some components having already passed hot flight tests. The report believes that considering NASA has already established a standardized system for 3D printing and places significant emphasis on DED technology research and development, domestic enterprises are more inclined to use the PBF technology route, with relatively few focusing on DED technology. It is expected that the penetration rate of domestic DED technology will increase in the future. Risk warning: The increase in the penetration rate of DED technology may not meet expectations.