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TCT Asia 2023: China's biggest 3D printing event in pictures

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TCT Asia 2023 is underway in Shanghai and has brought with it the biggest showcase of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies and applications. Amongst surprise hardware launches, industry newcomers and never before seen applications are themes of true AM production, reliability, and more laser power. Here is just a snapshot of the action at the NECC this week.

This is the first time the TCT team in the UK have been able to join the throngs of visitors at China's leading 3D printing show since the onset of the pandemic. Now in its eighth year, the show feels bigger than ever with 17,000 visitors pre-registered to attend across the week. 

The crowds gather in Shanghai on the first day of the show where 285 exhibitors are presenting their latest technologies, applications and research. The show floor has been designed to represent each vital step in the AM process chain with dedicated sections for 3D printing hardware, materials, software, and post-processing.

Bright Laser Technologies has gone big this year with a booth that one of our team members described as 'a trade show in itself.' Ahead of the event, the metal AM company promised a showcase of its most recent batch manufacturing solutions for industry but teased that visitors could also expect to see something new. That something new turned out to be the BLT-S800 3D printer with an upgraded optical configuration and a whopping 20-laser capacity. Having launched its 10-laser BLT-S800 and 12-laser BLT-S1000 systems in just the last 12 months, it reinforces an ongoing trend for multi-laser metal technologies to maximise productivity.

Continuing the multi-laser trend is Farsoon Technologies, which launched its 16-laser FS1521M machine on day one. Equipped with 500-watt fibre lasers, the FS1521M series features a large build chamber diameter of 1530mm and a Z-axis height of 850mm, which the company believes holds 'huge potential’ for volume applications in oil and gas and aerospace. The company also added another machine to the mix on day two, the quad-laser FS350M-4 metal 3D printer, equipped with a build envelope of 433 x 358 x 400 mm. 

Away from metal powder bed, FDM continues to be a dominating technology on the show floor. Raise3D is demonstrating its renewed RMF500 equipped with IDEX (Independent Dual Extruders) system for double the productivity when printing carbon fibre-reinforced parts. However, the company also presented its first DLP machine and metal 3D printing capabilities paired BASF's UltraFuse metal filament, and Raise3D's own specially developed debinding and sintering stations. 

UnionTech has garnered strong adoption rates for its vat photopolymerisation systems, sitting comfortably alongside industry stalwarts 3D Systems and Stratasys in terms of industrial 3D printer shipments. At TCT Asia, UnionTech threw a curve ball with the debut of its latest product, a selective laser melting-based metal 3D printer called Muees310.

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Exhibit at the UK's definitive and most influential 3D printing and additive manufacturing event, TCT 3Sixty.

TCT Asia 2023 saw the first of several debuts for Haitian Laser Machinery. A subsidiary of the Haitian Group, a trusted large industrial manufacturing firm that specialises in the manufacture of plastic injection moulding machines, the company confidently made its intentions for the AM market known with the introduction of four metal laser powder bed fusion systems. Haitian will also exhibit at our sister event Interplas which celebrates its 75th anniversary this September.

But it's not all metals. Leading materials manufacturer Polymaker launched two new 'PolySonic' filaments which are said to allow a higher volume of parts to be printed per hour without compromising on characteristics or mechanical strength. The company says PolySonic PLA and PolySonic PRO materials will "set a new benchmark for fast printing."

The talk of most trade show floors since it was introduced in February this year, the Wilson 3D Airless Prototype also made an appearance on the EOS stand at TCT Asia. The sporting goods giant worked with EOS, DyeMansion and General Lattice to 'reinvent the basketball' which nearly meets the exact performance specifications of a regulation basketball used in the NBA. 

The emphasis on metals and big build volumes at TCT Asia makes aerospace a natural fit, and there are plenty of application examples on the show floor, from a thrust chamber printed in 316L stainless steel on HBD's new E1000 metal 3D printer to rocket engine parts printed on Eplus3D's 9-laser EP M1250 machine.

And while the demand from aerospace and space companies grows so too does the demand for new materials: a primary one being pure copper. As explained on the cover of a recent issue of TCT Magazine, EOS believes it has cracked the code on one of AM's most challenging materials and is opening new application opportunities from heat exchangers to electrical components.

There are plenty of educational opportunities on the show floor and throughout the adjacent TCT Conference, including the Tech Stage, where on day one, a panel of C-suite AM experts gathered in front of a standing room only audience to share their views on where the AM industry is headed. Key takeaways focused on the need for more reliability, and why patience is a virtue in an industry where we're always waiting for the next big thing.

You can read more insights from TCT Asia here and register to attend.