Aluminum-magnesium-scandium metal 3D printing technology helps Beijing Winter Olympic Games

In early 2021, industrial 3D printing pilot Hua Shu Hi-Tech signed an agreement with the Olympic preparation Office of the Chinese Olympic Committee to use metal 3D printing technology to provide equipment optimization solutions for the Chinese short-track speed skating team participating in the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, tailor-made new lightweight and personalized short-track speed skates for athletes, and contribute to the national team's competition for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

By analyzing the movements of athletes in short-track speed skating turns and collecting the data of athletes acting on skates, the research and development team of Hua Shu obtains the stress conditions of skates, and optimizes the lightweight topology of skates, which ensures the streamlined appearance of the tube and the geometric optimization design of its quality, transverse and tangential strength, and meets the technological requirements of installation, positioning, processing and so on.

The traditional skate knife tube is made of aluminum alloy, while the Huashu 3D printing skate tube is made of aluminum-magnesium-scandium alloy (AlMgSc).

Al-mg-SC alloy is a new generation of aerospace structural material developed on the basis of traditional Al-mg alloy, which has the characteristics of high specific strength, good plasticity and high temperature resistance. Hua Shu R & D team tested the strength, toughness, fatigue and other mechanical properties of Al-mg-SC material on FS421M metal 3D printing equipment, obtained the optimal parameters, and successfully developed the 3D printing process of Al-mg-SC metal. The structure printed by Al-mg-SC alloy has higher strength than traditional aluminum alloy, and can replace some titanium alloy parts to achieve the effect of weight reduction and cost reduction. By analyzing and collecting the data of body weight, tilt angle, turning radius, speed, force in centrifugal direction, force in gravity direction, standard force and lateral force in short track speed skating, the research and development team of Hua Shu obtains the stress condition of skate. and according to the stress condition is calculated in the simulation software, the optimal structure of the skate is obtained.

According to the calculation of the model weight of the knife tube and knife holder of the new skate system, the total weight of the optimized knife tube + knife holder is more than 20% less than that of the traditional skate.