29/09/2019
Five-year Plan of DLP 3D Printing Technology
Why talk about the short-term trend of three or five years, because people of engineering background will feel that technology itself has limitations, unlike literati talking about technology, they always think that everything can be done. The short-term trend of the industry in three to five years can be basically determined by a practitioner from the perspective of product upgrading trajectory and market demand fluctuation.
There are material-based limitations in 3D printing technology, and DLP 3D printing is no exception. Its principle is surface printing, not dot printing of FDM printing or laser sintering technology. The materials used are mainly liquid materials such as resins. As shown in the figure below, the ultraviolet projection projection can solidify the photosensitive resin, and the object can be formed by layer-by-layer solidification.
Because it relies on the projected surface printing, it can hit one surface at a time. If the light intensity is enough and the resin has good photosensitivity, it can hit a surface 50 um high in one or two seconds, so the overall efficiency is higher. The short board of the resin material is obviously not strong enough to replace the metal firmware, so the manufacture of metal additives has been more popular in recent years, while the DLP method is less popular. DLP 3D printing technology also has the advantage of high accuracy, so there are still many ultraviolet projections with 30um resolution. Therefore, the application direction of DLP 3D printing technology mainly exists in jewelry model manufacturing, denture model manufacturing, shoe model and other small volume and high precision demand design fields.
I think that in the next few years, the hot trend of DLP 3D printing development is mainly in the following aspects.
1. Biofabrication based on 365 nm light source. This light source can be used in special fields such as human organ copying. At present, there are few people doing it, and the price is expensive, and the technology is difficult. In the next year or two, technological breakthroughs may be formed and there will be a greater potential market demand.
2. The market of dental orthodontics is expanding. The rapid development of peritoneal cast-based dental mantle technology has brought huge market space to this field. 405nm/385nm printers are currently the largest market, and demand will double in the next few years, which is the main competitive area for commercial DLP 3D printers.
3. Micro-and nano-scale printing is going to market from scientific research institutes. At present, the printing technology with accuracy below 10um is mainly used in scientific research institutes. The objective lenses used are demanding and expensive, and the market application is less. In the future, the comprehensive cost will be reduced, which may lead to a sharp increase in the market demand for advanced fine components.
4. Large area mosaic printing. Current DLP printing methods are limited to the size and resolution of ultraviolet projection area. Because of the gradual maturity of image mosaic technology, large-scale printing will be popular in the future, and large-scale high-precision model market will emerge.
It can be predicted that in the next five years, DLP 3D printing will usher in multi-level development, which will create a stable and upward market demand. The core component of DLP 3D printing, ultraviolet projection, will upgrade and update with the market, with higher accuracy, larger projection area and more choice of light source.