How 3D Printing Technology Is Transforming Porcelain Making
Ceramic 3D printing, rapid microwave drying, rapid microwave firing - a simple "three-step" process, and an unusually shaped tower-like porcelain piece is declared a success. Recently, at Taoxichuan in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, a reporter personally witnessed a porcelain piece with an intricate shape go from 3D printing to a fired finished product in just over 3 hours. New technologies such as 3D printing are transforming the thousand-year-old porcelain-making process of Jingdezhen, the "Porcelain Capital of the World", offering another possibility for the transformation and upgrading of the ancient porcelain industry. In today's pursuit of personalization and experience, these new technologies are also bringing brand-new fun and enjoyment to more people.
"In total, the work of a single piece of unfired ware passes through 72 hands before it can become a finished vessel." In his Ming dynasty work Tiangong Kaiwu (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature), the scientist Song Yingxing described Jingdezhen's complex porcelain-making craft, which has been passed down for a thousand years. The traditional handmade porcelain forming processes had already taken initial shape in the Song dynasty - throwing, mold pressing, trimming, dipping in glaze, swirling glaze... 72 processes earned Jingdezhen porcelain its reputation for being "white as jade, bright as a mirror, thin as paper, and resonant as a chime stone", but at the same time they also required closely interlinked steps, highly professional and skilled hand craftsmanship, and a relatively long production cycle.
After 15 years of technological precipitation and accumulation, Jingdezhen Yuanchuang Gaoke Industrial Technology Co., Ltd. overcame multiple technical difficulties and developed a complete solution at the advanced international level of ceramic art: a ceramic 3D printer, which enables 3D printing that had always used plastic and metal as materials to print using specially made exclusive clay as raw material, quickly turning creative shapes in the mind into physical objects; a ceramic ultra-fast drying oven, which after printing is completed quickly dries and glazes the porcelain body; then it is sent into a ceramic rapid firing furnace for firing, and a ceramic work is completed.
"Using the complete ceramic 3D printing technology platform and equipment, from idea to finished product, only 3-5 hours are needed in between, while the traditional ceramic production cycle requires 10-15 days." said Zeng Shu, chief engineer of Yuanchuang Gaoke. "The 3D printing technology we developed, which leads the ceramic industry, provides a 'new way to play' suited to the general public for ceramic art creation."
Due to the limitations of manual throwing, unusually shaped ceramic works require designers to expend a great deal of energy and time, yet the results are often unsatisfactory. A traditional porcelain-making artisan told the reporter that with 3D printing technology, no matter how wildly imaginative the idea, it can quickly be turned into reality, opening up a broad creative space for designers.
It is understood that because ceramic 3D printing technology has already highlighted its advantages, many domestic art colleges and universities, including Jingdezhen Ceramic University, have now introduced complete sets of ceramic 3D printing equipment and applied them in ceramic art teaching activities and scientific research, achieving positive results. (Reporters Kou Yong, Liu Xiaojun)