Apple posted on its official website that all cases of Apple Watch Ultra 3 and titanium Apple Watch Series 11 this year are made of 100% aerospace-grade recycled titanium powder, and 3 D printing technology is used for the first time to meet users' daily and adventure needs. At the same time, it is more environmentally friendly without compromising performance and uses equal or better raw materials.
"At Apple, environmental protection is a core value for all teams." said Sarah Chandler, Apple's vice president of environmental and supply chain innovation. "We know that 3 D printing has great potential in terms of material efficiency, and this is the key to achieving Apple 2030."
Apple said that the additive process of 3 D printing allows materials to be printed layer by layer, making the product as close as possible to the desired final shape. At the same time, machined forgings traditionally adopt subtractive technology, which can remove the excess parts of raw materials and form the required products. According to Apple, this shift reduces the use of half the raw materials in the titanium cases of Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch Series 11 compared with the previous model.
"The 50% reduction is a huge achievement, which means you can now make two watches with the same materials you used to make one watch before." Chandler said. "From a macro perspective, this saves a lot of resources for the planet."
According to Apple's estimates, thanks to this new process, a total of more than 400 tons of titanium raw materials have been saved this year alone. In addition, in the past ten years, Apple said that it has been conducting experiments related to 3 D printing technology, and this industry has also begun to develop rapidly during this period. For example, in hospital laboratories, doctors began to use the first batch of 3 D printed prostheses and artificial organs. Outside the earth's atmosphere, astronauts are also using fast and convenient 3 D printing to make important tools in the International Space Station.
"For a long time, we have witnessed the gradual maturity of this technology and its samples more and more reflective of our design." Dr. J Manjunathaiah, senior director of Apple in charge of the production design of Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro, said. "We have always been committed to making products with fewer raw materials. In the past, 3 D printing technology has not been used for large-scale production of appearance parts. Therefore, we began to explore the use of metal 3 D printing to make such appearance parts."
In addition, Apple said that the new 3 D printing machines are equipped with a galvanometer system containing six lasers, and can print layer by layer more than 900 times at the same time to complete a watch case. However, before the printer starts working, the titanium raw material needs to be atomized into titanium powder. In this process, the oxygen content needs to be finely adjusted to reduce the explosive characteristics of titanium metal when heated.
After the printer is done working, the operator will suck the excess titanium powder from the build plate. This process is called "coarse depowder". Since that print construct is very close to the final shape of the case, with all the interlocking structure, titanium metal powder may still remain in the gaps of the case. The ultrasonic oscillator ensures that these residual powders are removed during the "depowder" stage.
In the separation process, a thin charged wire is used to cut between the cases, while a liquid coolant is sprayed to reduce the heat generated during the cutting process. Subsequently, an automated optical inspection system measures each case to check that its dimensions and appearance are accurate. This is the final quality check before ensuring that the case goes to final treatment.
"Mechanical engineers must be the best people in the world at solving problems." Bergeron said. "They want to perfectly combine the circuit board, display screen, battery and other components that are put into the watch case during final assembly. We will test the whole process to ensure that the watch functions properly, then load the software and run it for a while to check whether all functions meet the requirements."
At the same time, Apple also said that the benefits of this design flexibility are not limited to the Apple Watch. For example, the USB-C port of the new iPhone Air also benefits from it. By using the same recycled titanium powder, a new titanium shell was 3 D printed. Port for a slim and rugged design.
In fact, over the years, Apple has always insisted on making all designed products mass-producable while maintaining the basic conditions of manufacturing products to maintain functionality, beauty and durability, and passed rigorous reliability tests to achieve performance, and even To achieve breakthroughs in materials science, while also ensuring the completion of Apple's 2030 decarbonization goals, there is no doubt that Apple Watch Ultra 3 and titanium Apple Watch Series 11 are another major breakthrough in materials science.
