Spacecraft parts and components have complex shapes and high precision requirements, and the specifications vary greatly in small batch production. It is a complex and precise process that requires a lot of design, verification, and improvement from the initial idea design to the final application of parts; the cost of labor and material resources is prohibitive. The SLA rapid prototyping integrated 3D technology additive manufacturing process has unique technical advantages and application prospects in the research and development of various parts of modern aerospace.
SLA technology and relying on photopolymerization for curing and molding do not produce thermal diffusion and thermal deformation, and the chain reaction can be precisely controlled to ensure that the polymerization reaction does not occur outside the laser point, resulting in high processing accuracy and good surface quality. The raw material utilization rate is close to 100 percent, and the molding efficiency is excellent. Furthermore, because SLA technology has no thermal effect, it can be made into complex and fine parts of various sizes, has a wide range of applications, and has good overall stability, making it the only rapid prototyping technology that can meet the precision, surface quality, and stability requirements of aerospace components.
In the aerospace industry, the SLA-printed projectile shell model with sensors is ready for direct wind tunnel testing, as well as testing for manufacturability and acceptability. After obtaining various parameters such as aerodynamic shape performance and flight performance, discuss and evaluate the manufacturability, verify the structure of the shell model, quickly select the optimal rectification scheme from a variety of design schemes, and determine the best reasonable manufacturing process, thereby greatly reducing the development cycle and cost in the research and development process.
At the same time, after completing the model structure verification, the model’s surface can be directly sprayed and colored to clearly display the structure of each component and the complex surface. Its display and explanation effect far outperforms the computer drawing simulation method.