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经济学人双语版

经济学人:印刷未来世界龙头机器制造商

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(1). Three-dimensional printing

3D印刷

(2). An image of the future

印刷未来

(3). To do all this, though, you need a device called a transducer.

但完成该过程，你不能缺少一台叫做压电式换能器的设备。

(4). Transducers are made from arrays of tiny piezoelectric structures that convert electrical signals into ultrasound waves by vibrating at an appropriate frequency.

压电式换能器是由具有压电效应的一系列敏感元件机构组成。敏感元件机构通过定频震荡将电信号转换成超声波。

(5). As a result, even as the size and cost of the console that controls the scanner has fallen with advances in microelectronics,the cost of making the probe itself remains stubbornly high—as much as ten times that of the console.

随着微电子领域中，技术的突飞猛进，控制扫描仪的电路板无论从体积还有成本都有很大程度的优化变小和降低。有些电路板小到可以装进医生口袋里面，成本也不过几百美元的价格。而制作换能器探头的成本却一直居高不下，跟电路板相比，探头的制作成本大概是一块电路板的10倍左右。

(6). At least, it does if you use traditional subtractive manufacturing techniques like cutting and drilling.

即使不考虑体积及成本的情况下，传统的对比相减式加工流程技术也能完成这些工作，比如切割，机钻等。

(7). However GE, a large American conglomerate, is now proposing to make ultrasound transducers by additive manufacturing—or three-dimensional printing, as it is also known.

而GE作为美国的一个庞大的企业集团正考虑采用对比添加式的加工流程来加工超声波压电式换能器。

(8). A new laboratory at the firms research centre in Niskayuna, New York, is taking a hard-headed look at the technique, which some see as a fad and others as the future, and working out which products might be made more efficiently by addition rather than subtraction.

GE在纽约Niskayuna地区的研发中心新成立了一个实验室，目前该实验室正本着理性实际的态度对该项技术进行研发，力图找到哪些产品用对比添加式而非对比相减式的技术流程加工生产更加适合。一些人认为，对该项技术的研发只不过是一时狂热。还有一些人声称，目前的时机并不成熟，对该项技术的研发仅仅具有将来时的意义罢了。

(9). Ultrasound transducers were an early pick both because of the complicated geometry needed to focus the sound waves and because ceramics are harder than metals to cut and drill accurately.

最初选择超声波压电式换能器来作为3D印刷术的对象原因有两点。一是该换能器用来聚焦声波的机体外形非常复杂，二是它用到的陶瓷材料比金属的硬度要高很多，很难进行精准地切割和机钻。

(10). But they are easy to print.

而用3D印刷术却很容易解决这两个难题。

(11). Although researchers have had new transducer designs in mind for years, it has been impractical to construct them subtractively.

多年以来，压电式换能器的研究者们一直都有新型设计的想法，但应用对比相减式的加工流程实际上很难能把这样的构想变为现实，

(12). Additive manufacturing could change that.

而对比添加式很可能会使这种困顿得到改善。

(13). The new laboratory will look at other forms of additive manufacturing, too.

GE的新实验室还将研究其它对比添加式的加工流程。

(14). GE is interested in how the technology could be used right across the firms businesses, from aerospace to power generation and consumer products, according to Luana Iorio, head of manufacturing technologies at GE Global Research.

GE全球研发中心制造技术中心主任Luana Iorio指出，GE旨在为各种商业形式，包括象航空航天、能源及消费产品等领域提供令人满意的3D印刷技术。

(15). Additive manufacturing can combine parts into a single item, so less assembly is needed. That can also save weight—a particular advantage in aerospace.

对比添加式可以整合零部件，避免了一些繁琐的机械组装过程，同时减轻了重量，这点对航空航天领域尤为有利。