EXTRA CREDIT #2

A new brick in the Great Wall

At this very moment, an additive manufacturing machine, popularly known as a three-dimensional printer, is hard at work in Haidan, a district of Beijing, China. Although they require an occasional visit from the printer supervisors, these 3-D printers generally work all on their own. Each object produced is built one layer at a time, using lasers to place thin sheets of ink to create solid objects. It is not yet ready for use in mass production; however, it is a fantastic way to make prototypes because they do not require retooling each time the specification changes. The U.S. and President Obama have developed a great interest in the art of 3-D printing, but China has already basically claimed it for its own. Currently, AFS is in the prototyping business. Many aerospace firms and vehicle-makers who need experimental designs turned into metal quickly have reached out to AFS for help. AFS uses plastic, wax, and foundry sand to print solid objects which can then be used as molds for metal objects. In fact, they have been able to prove that all the parts needed to make a prototype car engine can be printed and cast into metal in just under two weeks. AFS also sells a special type of 3-D printers, ones that are able to print metal directly, to other companies for over $250,000. These printers are made to model the largest 3-D printer in China. It is 12 meters long and is a part of the National Laboratory for Aeronautics and Astronautics at a prestigious university in China; furthermore, it produces complex parts for China’s commercial aircraft program. Making plans are extremely high tech, but the 3-D printing is also used for printing plastic objects in China such as toys and and phone cases. The company has also just released a mini 3-D printer for only a couple hundred dollars. These 3-D printers are an insanely large advance in technological history.

This article was extremely interesting to me because it is such an advancement in technology. The fact that scientists have discovered a way to produce metal parts and plastic object without manual labor is so impressive. This is such an amazing discovery now and I can only imagine how advanced our technology will be in the future.

http://www.afsinc.org/content.cfm?itemnumber=7680