日本技術情報センター Company Overview

In the automotive and aerospace industries, efforts are rapidly advancing in material development and manufacturing technology aimed at improving fuel efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide emissions through further weight reduction. This seminar will provide an easy-to-understand explanation for beginners about the trends in new material development at advanced companies that are energetically working towards ultra-lightweight solutions using lightweight materials such as carbon fiber, aluminum, and ceramics. It will cover various additive manufacturing (AM) and manufacturing technologies, as well as product examples that utilize these materials, including complex shape integration that is impossible with conventional processing methods, lattice/honeycomb structure fabrication, porous structure fabrication, and topology optimization using 3D printers. The lightweighting of parts that can significantly differentiate from conventional and competitor components is an urgent and critical issue, with intense technological development competition occurring both domestically and internationally. 3D printers, which are seen as the next generation of part manufacturing, offer a completely new perspective on AM technology, enabling the creation of innovative and attractive lightweight parts that are difficult to achieve with traditional processing methods, while also realizing short-term, low-cost, and high-quality manufacturing. Development cannot be expected to progress along the lines of existing technologies. By merging lightweight materials with 3D printing and utilizing topology optimization, astonishing weight reduction of parts can be achieved. We encourage you to take on this challenge.

With advancements in technology, a wide variety of ceramics 3D printers have recently been developed and launched into the market, enabling the creation of innovative ceramic parts that were impossible with traditional methods and technologies, as well as facilitating short-term, low-cost, high-quality manufacturing, which is being rapidly adopted and utilized by leading companies. On the other hand, Canon has developed a high-performance ceramic material that excels in suppressing "shrinkage" during sintering for use in selective laser melting (SLM) metal 3D printers, attracting attention. In June of last year, Canon and the Metal Research Institute collaborated to officially launch a contract manufacturing service for high-precision, complex-shaped ceramic parts using Canon's innovative ceramic materials and leveraging 3D Systems' metal 3D printers. This seminar will provide a practical and easy-to-understand explanation of the development trends of Canon's ceramic materials compatible with metal 3D printers, the molding technology using these materials, the characteristics of the parts that can be produced, the physical properties and features of the molded products, target areas, collaboration with the Metal Research Institute, and future material development and market strategies.

At the beginning of the seminar, we will introduce Canon's latest developments in a groundbreaking high-performance ceramic material that excels in selective laser melting (SLM) for 3D printers, which effectively suppresses "shrinkage" during firing. We will discuss the characteristics of parts that can be fabricated using this method, layer manufacturing technology, target fields, contract manufacturing services, and our collaboration with Metal Research Institute, which has started a high-precision ceramic parts fabrication service using metal 3D printers with this material. Following that, we will provide an easy-to-understand explanation of the development trends of various ceramic 3D printers from world-leading companies such as Eske Fine, 3DCeram Sinto, and Lithoz. We will cover the innovative manufacturing technologies that enable the creation of complex shapes that were previously impossible with conventional processing methods, as well as the production of hollow, porous, and lattice structures. This includes examples of innovative parts creation, rapid part development, prototyping, manufacturing, significant reductions in the number of parts, lightweight miniaturization, and reductions in manufacturing processes and workforce. We will also discuss the recent attention on high-speed, large ceramic 3D printers for the short-term, low-cost manufacturing of large parts and products, sharing both failures and successes. With the remarkable advancements in ceramic 3D printers and ceramic AM technology, the manufacturing of ceramic parts using 3D printers will become commonplace in a few years.