The 3d printing association

The Free Beginner's Guide - 3D Printing Industry

Welcome to 3DPI”s Beginner’s Guide to 3D Printing. Whether you are new to 3D printing technology or just looking to close a few knowledge gaps, we’re glad you stopped by. By now, most of us have heard, at some level, about the potential of 3D printing. But with this guide we are offering insights into the history and the reality of 3D printing — the processes, materials and applications — as well as measured thoughts on where it might be heading. We hope you’ll find this to be one of the most comprehensive 3D printing resources available, and that no matter what your skill level is, there will be plenty in here to meet your needs.

Are you ready? Let’s get started !

01 - Basics

 

3D Printing — also known as additive manufacturing — has been quoted in the Financial Times and by other sources as potentially being larger than the Internet. Some believe this is true. Many others urge that this is part of the extraordinary hype that exists around this very exciting technology area. So what really is 3D printing, who generally uses 3D printers and what for ?

Overview

The term 3D printing covers a host of processes and technologies that offer a full spectrum of capabilities for the production of parts and products in different materials. Essentially, what all of the processes and technologies have in common is the manner in which production is carried out layer by layer in an additive process which is in contrast to traditional methods of production involving subtractive methods or moulding/casting processes. Applications of 3D printing are emerging almost by the day, and, as this technology continues to penetrate more widely and deeply across industrial, maker and consumer sectors, this is only set to increase. Most reputable commentators on this technology sector agree that, as of today, we are only just beginning to see the true potential of 3D printing. 3DPI, a reliable media source for 3D printing, brings you all of the latest news, views, process developments and applications as they emerge in this exciting field. This overview article aims to provide the 3DPI audience with a reliable backgrounder on 3D printing in terms of what it is (technologies, processes and materials), its history, application areas and benefits

Introduction – What is 3D printing ?

 

3D Printing is a process for making a physical object from a three-dimensional digital model, typically by laying down many successive thin layers of a material. It brings a digital object (its CAD representation) into its physical form by adding layer by layer of materials.

There are several different techniques to 3D Print an object. We will go in further details later in the Guide. 3D Printing brings two fundamental innovations: the manipulation of objects in their digital format and the manufacturing of new shapes by addition of material.

Digital

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Additive Manufacturing

Technology has affected recent human history probably more than any other field. Think of a light bulb, steam engine or, more latterly, cars and aeroplanes, not to mention the rise and rise of the world wide web. These technologies have made our lives better in many ways, opened up new avenues and possibilities, but usually it takes time, sometimes even decades, before the truly disruptive nature of the technology becomes apparent.

It is widely believed that 3D printing or additive manufacturing (AM) has the vast potential to become one of these technologies. 3D printing has now been covered across many television channels, in mainstream newspapers and across online resources. What really is this 3D printing that some have claimed will put an end to traditional manufacturing as we know it, revolutionize design and impose geopolitical, economic, social, demographic, environmental and security implications to our every day lives?

The most basic, differentiating principle behind 3D printing is that it is an additive manufacturing process. And this is indeed the key because 3D printing is a radically different manufacturing method based on advanced technology that builds up parts, additively, in layers at the sub mm scale. This is fundamentally different from any other existing traditional manufacturing techniques.

There are a number of limitations to traditional manufacturing, which has widely been based on human labour and made by hand ideology rooting back to the etymological origins of the French word for manufacturing itself. However, the world of manufacturing has changed, and automated processes such as machining, casting, forming and moulding are all (relatively) new, complex processes that require machines, computers and robot technology.

However, these technologies all demand subtracting material from a larger block whether to achieve the end product itself or to produce a tool for casting or moulding processes and this is a serious limitation within the overall manufacturing process.

For many applications traditional design and production processes impose a number of unacceptable constraints, including the expensive tooling as mentioned above, fixtures, and the need for assembly for complex parts. In addition, the subtractive manufacturing processes, such as machining, can result in up to 90% of the original block of material being wasted. In contrast, 3D printing is a process for creating objects directly, by adding material layer by layer in a variety of ways, depending on the technology used. Simplifying the ideology behind 3D printing, for anyone that is still trying to understand the concept (and there are many), it could be likened to the process of building something with Lego blocks automatically.

3D printing is an enabling technology that encourages and drives innovation with unprecedented design freedom while being a tool-less process that reduces prohibitive costs and lead times. Components can be designed specifically to avoid assembly requirements with intricate geometry and complex features created at no extra cost. 3D printing is also emerging as an energy-efficient technology that can provide environmental efficiencies in terms of both the manufacturing process itself, utilising up to 90% of standard materials, and throughout the products operating life, through lighter and stronger design.

In recent years, 3D printing has gone beyond being an industrial prototyping and manufacturing process as the technology has become more accessible to small companies and even individuals. Once the domain of huge, multi-national corporations due to the scale and economics of owning a 3D printer, smaller (less capable) 3D printers can now be acquired for under $1000.

This has opened up the technology to a much wider audience, and as the exponential adoption rate continues apace on all fronts, more and more systems, materials, applications, services and ancillaries are emerging.

02 - History

The earliest 3D printing technologies first became visible in the late 1980’s, at which time they were called Rapid Prototyping (RP) technologies. This is because the processes were originally conceived as a fast and more cost-effective method for creating prototypes for product development within industry. As an interesting aside, the very first patent application for RP technology was filed by a Dr Kodama, in Japan, in May 1980. Unfortunately for Dr Kodama, the full patent specification was subsequently not filed before the one year deadline after the application, which is particularly disastrous considering that he was a patent lawyer! In real terms, however, the origins of 3D printing can be traced back to 1986, when the first patent was issued for stereolithography apparatus (SLA). This patent belonged to one Charles (Chuck) Hull, who first invented his SLA machine in 1983. Hull went on to co-found 3D Systems Corporation — one of the largest and most prolific organizations operating in the 3D printing sector today.

3D Systems’ first commercial RP system, the SLA-1, was introduced in 1987 and following rigorous testing the first of these system was sold in 1988. As is fairly typical with new technology, while SLA can claim to be the first past the starting post, it was not the only RP technology in development at this time, for, in 1987, Carl Deckard, who was working at the University of Texas, filed a patent in the US for the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) RP process. This patent was issued in 1989 and SLS was later licensed to DTM Inc, which was later acquired by 3D Systems. 1989 was also the year that Scott Crump, a co-founder of Stratasys Inc. filed a patent for Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) — the proprietary technology that is still held by the company today, but is also the process used by many of the entry-level machines, based on the open source RepRap model, that are prolific today. The FDM patent was issued to Stratasys in 1992. In Europe, 1989 also saw the formation of EOS GmbH in Germany, founded by Hans Langer. After a dalliance with SL processes, EOS’ R&D focus was placed heavily on the laser sintering (LS) process, which has continued to go from strength to strength. Today, the EOS systems are recognized around the world for their quality output for industrial prototyping and production applications of 3D printing. EOS sold its first ‘Stereos’ system in 1990. The company’s direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process resulted from an initial project with a division of Electrolux Finland, which was later acquired by EOS.

Other 3D printing technologies and processes were also emerging during these years, namely Ballistic Particle Manufacturing (BPM) originally patented by William Masters, Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM) originally patented by Michael Feygin, Solid Ground Curing (SGC) originally patented by Itzchak Pomerantz et al and ‘three dimensional printing’ (3DP) originally patented by Emanuel Sachs et al. And so the early nineties witnessed a growing number of competing companies in the RP market but only three of the originals remain today — 3D Systems, EOS and Stratasys.

Throughout the 1990’s and early 2000’s a host of new technologies continued to be introduced, still focused wholly on industrial applications and while they were still largely processes for prototyping applications, R&D was also being conducted by the more advanced technology providers for specific tooling, casting and direct manufacturing applications. This saw the emergence of new terminology, namely Rapid Tooling (RT), Rapid Casting and Rapid Manufacturing (RM) respectively.

In terms of commercial operations, Sanders Prototype (later Solidscape) and ZCorporation were set up in 1996, Arcam was established in 1997, Objet Geometries launched in 1998, MCP Technologies (an established vacuum casting OEM) introduced the SLM technology in 2000, EnvisionTec was founded in 2002, ExOne was established in 2005 as a spin-off from the Extrude Hone Corporation and Sciaky Inc was pioneering its own additive process based on its proprietary electron beam welding technology. These companies all served to swell the ranks of Western companies operating across a global market. The terminology had also evolved with a proliferation of manufacturing applications and the accepted umbrella term for all of the processes was Additive Manufacturing (AM). Notably, there were many parallel developments taking place in the Eastern hemisphere. However, these technologies, while significant in themselves and enjoying some local success, did not really impact the global market at that time.

During the mid noughties, the sector started to show signs of distinct diversification with two specific areas of emphasis that are much more clearly defined today. First, there was the high end of 3D printing, still very expensive systems, which were geared towards part production for high value, highly engineered, complex parts. This is still ongoing — and growing — but the results are only now really starting to become visible in production applications across the aerospace, automotive, medical and fine jewellery sectors, as years of R&D and qualification are now paying off. A great deal still remains behind closed doors and/or under non-disclosure agreements (NDA). At the other end of the spectrum, some of the 3D printing system manufacturers were developing and advancing ‘concept modellers’, as they were called at the time. Specifically, these were 3D printers that kept the focus on improving concept development and functional prototyping, that were being developed specifically as office- and user-friendly, cost-effective systems. The prelude to today’s desktop machines. However, these systems were all still very much for industrial applications.

Looking back, this was really the calm before the storm.

At the lower end of the market — the 3D printers that today are seen as being in the mid range — a price war emerged together with incremental improvements in printing accuracy, speed and materials.

In 2007, the market saw the first system under $10,000 from 3D Systems, but this never quite hit the mark that it was supposed to. This was partly due to the system itself, but also other market influences. The holy grail at that time was to get a 3D printer under $5000 — this was seen by many industry insiders, users and commentators as the key to opening up 3D printing technology to a much wider audience. For much of that year, the arrival of the highly-anticipated Desktop Factory — which many predicted would be the fulfillment of that holy grail — was heralded as the one to watch. It came to nothing as the organization faltered in the run up to production. Desktop Factory and its leader, Cathy Lewis, were acquired, along with the IP, by 3D Systems in 2008 and all but vanished. As it turned out though, 2007 was actually the year that did mark the turning point for accessible 3D printing technology — even though few realized it at the time — as the RepRap phenomenon took root. Dr Bowyer conceived the RepRap concept of an open source, self-replicating 3D printer as early as 2004, and the seed was germinated in the following years with some heavy slog from his team at Bath, most notably Vik Oliver and Rhys Jones, who developed the concept through to working prototypes of a 3D printer using the deposition process. 2007 was the year the shoots started to show through and this embryonic, open source 3D printing movement started to gain visibility.

But it wasn’t until January 2009 that the first commercially available 3D printer – in kit form and based on the RepRap concept – was offered for sale. This was the BfB RapMan 3D printer. Closely followed by Makerbot Industries in April the same year, the founders of which were heavily involved in the development of RepRap until they departed from the Open Source philosophy following extensive investment. Since 2009, a host of similar deposition printers have emerged with marginal unique selling points (USPs) and they continue to do so. The interesting dichotomy here is that, while the RepRap phenomenon has given rise to a whole new sector of commercial, entry-level 3D printers, the ethos of the RepRap community is all about Open Source developments for 3D printing and keeping commercialization at bay.

2012 was the year that alternative 3D printing processes were introduced at the entry level of the market. The B9Creator (utilising DLP technology) came first in June, followed by the Form 1 (utilising stereolithography) in December. Both were launched via the funding site Kickstarter — and both enjoyed huge success.

As a result of the market divergence, significant advances at the industrial level with capabilities and applications, dramatic increase in awareness and uptake across a growing maker movement, 2012 was also the year that many different mainstream media channels picked up on the technology. 2013 was a year of significant growth and consolidation. One of the most notable moves was the acquisition of Makerbot by Stratasys.

Heralded as the 2nd, 3rd and, sometimes even, 4th Industrial Revolution by some, what cannot be denied is the impact that 3D printing is having on the industrial sector and the huge potential that 3D printing is demonstrating for the future of consumers. What shape that potential will take is still unfolding before us.

03 - Technology

The starting point for any 3D printing process is a 3D digital model, which can be created using a variety of 3D software programmes — in industry this is 3D CAD, for Makers and Consumers there are simpler, more accessible programmes available — or scanned with a 3D scanner. The model is then ‘sliced’ into layers, thereby converting the design into a file readable by the 3D printer. The material processed by the 3D printer is then layered according to the design and the process. As stated, there are a number of different types of 3D printing technologies, which process different materials in different ways to create the final object. Functional plastics, metals, ceramics and sand are, now, all routinely used for industrial prototyping and production applications. Research is also being conducted for 3D printing bio materials and different types of food. Generally speaking though, at the entry level of the market, materials are much more limited. Plastic is currently the only widely used material — usually ABS or PLA, but there are a growing number of alternatives, including Nylon. There is also a growing number of entry level machines that have been adapted for foodstuffs, such as sugar and chocolate.

How it Works

The different types of 3D printers each employ a different technology that processes different materials in different ways. It is important to understand that one of the most basic limitations of 3D printing — in terms of materials and applications — is that there is no ‘one solution fits all’. For example some 3D printers process powdered materials (nylon, plastic, ceramic, metal), which utilize a light/heat source to sinter/melt/fuse layers of the powder together in the defined shape. Others process polymer resin materials and again utilize a light/laser to solidify the resin in ultra thin layers. Jetting of fine droplets is another 3D printing process, reminiscent of 2D inkjet printing, but with superior materials to ink and a binder to fix the layers. Perhaps the most common and easily recognized process is deposition, and this is the process employed by the majority of entry-level 3D printers. This process extrudes plastics, commonly PLA or ABS, in filament form through a heated extruder to form layers and create the predetermined shape.

Because parts can be printed directly, it is possible to produce very detailed and intricate objects, often with functionality built in and negating the need for assembly.

However, another important point to stress is that none of the 3D printing processes come as plug and play options as of today. There are many steps prior to pressing print and more once the part comes off the printer — these are often overlooked. Apart from the realities of designing for 3D printing, which can be demanding, file preparation and conversion can also prove time-consuming and complicated, particularly for parts that demand intricate supports during the build process. However there are continual updates and upgrades of software for these functions and the situation is improving. Furthermore, once off the printer, many parts will need to undergo finishing operations. Support removal is an obvious one for processes that demand support, but others include sanding, lacquer, paint or other types of traditional finishing touches, which all typically need to be done by hand and require skill and/or time and patience.

04 - Processes

Stereolithography

Stereolithography (SL) is widely recognized as the first 3D printing process; it was certainly the first to be commercialised. SL is a laser-based process that works with photopolymer resins, that react with the laser and cure to form a solid in a very precise way to produce very accurate parts. It is a complex process, but simply put, the photopolymer resin is held in a vat with a movable platform inside. A laser beam is directed in the X-Y axes across the surface of the resin according to the 3D data supplied to the machine (the . stl file), whereby the resin hardens precisely where the laser hits the surface. Once the layer is completed, the platform within the vat drops down by a fraction (in the Z axis) and the subsequent layer is traced out by the laser. This continues until the entire object is completed and the platform can be raised out of the vat for removal.

Because of the nature of the SL process, it requires support structures for some parts, specifically those with overhangs or undercuts. These structures need to be manually removed.

In terms of other post processing steps, many objects 3D printed using SL need to be cleaned and cured. Curing involves subjecting the part to intense light in an oven-like machine to fully harden the resin.

Stereolithography is generally accepted as being one of the most accurate 3D printing processes with excellent surface finish. However limiting factors include the post-processing steps required and the stability of the materials over time, which can become more brittle.

DLP — or digital light processing — is a similar process to stereolithography in that it is a 3D printing process that works with photopolymers. The major difference is the light source. DLP uses a more conventional light source, such as an arc lamp, with a liquid crystal display panel or a deformable mirror device (DMD), which is applied to the entire surface of the vat of photopolymer resin in a single pass, generally making it faster than SL.

Also like SL, DLP produces highly accurate parts with excellent resolution, but its similarities also include the same requirements for support structures and post-curing. However, one advantage of DLP over SL is that only a shallow vat of resin is required to facilitate the process, which generally results in less waste and lower running costs.

Laser Sintering / Laser Melting

Laser sintering and laser melting are interchangeable terms that refer to a laser based 3D printing process that works with powdered materials. The laser is traced across a powder bed of tightly compacted powdered material, according to the 3D data fed to the machine, in the X-Y axes. As the laser interacts with the surface of the powdered material it sinters, or fuses, the particles to each other forming a solid. As each layer is completed the powder bed drops incrementally and a roller smoothes the powder over the surface of the bed prior to the next pass of the laser for the subsequent layer to be formed and fused with the previous layer.

The build chamber is completely sealed as it is necessary to maintain a precise temperature during the process specific to the melting point of the powdered material of choice. Once finished, the entire powder bed is removed from the machine and the excess powder can be removed to leave the ‘printed’ parts. One of the key advantages of this process is that the powder bed serves as an in-process support structure for overhangs and undercuts, and therefore complex shapes that could not be manufactured in any other way are possible with this process.

However, on the downside, because of the high temperatures required for laser sintering, cooling times can be considerable. Furthermore, porosity has been an historical issue with this process, and while there have been significant improvements towards fully dense parts, some applications still necessitate infiltration with another material to improve mechanical characteristics.

Laser sintering can process plastic and metal materials, although metal sintering does require a much higher powered laser and higher in-process temperatures. Parts produced with this process are much stronger than with SL or DLP, although generally the surface finish and accuracy is not as good.

Extrusion / FDM / FFF

3D printing utilizing the extrusion of thermoplastic material is easily the most common — and recognizable — 3DP process. The most popular name for the process is Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), due to its longevity, however this is a trade name, registered by Stratasys, the company that originally developed it. Stratasys’ FDM technology has been around since the early 1990’s and today is an industrial grade 3D printing process. However, the proliferation of entry-level 3D printers that have emerged since 2009 largely utilize a similar process, generally referred to as Freeform Fabrication (FFF), but in a more basic form due to patents still held by Stratasys. The earliest RepRap machines and all subsequent evolutions — open source and commercial — employ extrusion methodology. However, following Stratasys’ patent infringement filing against Afiniathere is a question mark over how the entry-level end of the market will develop now, with all of the machines potentially in Stratasys’ firing line for patent infringements.

The process works by melting plastic filament that is deposited, via a heated extruder, a layer at a time, onto a build platform according to the 3D data supplied to the printer. Each layer hardens as it is deposited and bonds to the previous layer.

Stratasys has developed a range of proprietary industrial grade materials for its FDM process that are suitable for some production applications. At the entry-level end of the market, materials are more limited, but the range is growing. The most common materials for entry-level FFF 3D printers are ABS and PLA.

The FDM/FFF processes require support structures for any applications with overhanging geometries. For FDM, this entails a second, water-soluble material, which allows support structures to be relatively easily washed away, once the print is complete. Alternatively, breakaway support materials are also possible, which can be removed by manually snapping them off the part. Support structures, or lack thereof, have generally been a limitation of the entry level FFF 3D printers. However, as the systems have evolved and improved to incorporate dual extrusion heads, it has become less of an issue.

In terms of models produced, the FDM process from Stratasys is an accurate and reliable process that is relatively office/studio-friendly, although extensive post-processing can be required. At the entry-level, as would be expected, the FFF process produces much less accurate models, but things are constantly improving.

The process can be slow for some part geometries and layer-to-layer adhesion can be a problem, resulting in parts that are not watertight. Again, post-processing using Acetone can resolve these issues.

Inkjet

There are two 3D printing process that utilize a jetting technique.

Binder jetting: where the material being jetted is a binder, and is selectively sprayed into a powder bed of the part material to fuse it a layer at a time to create/print the required part. As is the case with other powder bed systems, once a layer is completed, the powder bed drops incrementally and a roller or blade smoothes the powder over the surface of the bed, prior to the next pass of the jet heads, with the binder for the subsequent layer to be formed and fused with the previous layer.

Advantages of this process, like with SLS, include the fact that the need for supports is negated because the powder bed itself provides this functionality. Furthermore, a range of different materials can be used, including ceramics and food. A further distinctive advantage of the process is the ability to easily add a full colour palette which can be added to the binder.

The parts resulting directly from the machine, however, are not as strong as with the sintering process and require post-processing to ensure durability.

Material jetting: a 3D printing process whereby the actual build materials (in liquid or molten state) are selectively jetted through multiple jet heads (with others simultaneously jetting support materials). However, the materials tend to be liquid photopolymers, which are cured with a pass of UV light as each layer is deposited.

The nature of this product allows for the simultaneous deposition of a range of materials, which means that a single part can be produced from multiple materials with different characteristics and properties. Material jetting is a very precise 3D printing method, producing accurate parts with a very smooth finish.

Selective Deposition Lamination (SDL)

SDL is a proprietary 3D printing process developed and manufactured by Mcor Technologies. There is a temptation to compare this process with the Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM) process developed by Helisys in the 1990’s due to similarities in layering and shaping paper to form the final part. However, that is where any similarity ends.

The SDL 3D printing process builds parts layer by layer using standard copier paper. Each new layer is fixed to the previous layer using an adhesive, which is applied selectively according to the 3D data supplied to the machine. This means that a much higher density of adhesive is deposited in the area that will become the part, and a much lower density of adhesive is applied in the surrounding area that will serve as the support, ensuring relatively easy “weeding,” or support removal.

After a new sheet of paper is fed into the 3D printer from the paper feed mechanism and placed on top of the selectively applied adhesive on the previous layer, the build plate is moved up to a heat plate and pressure is applied. This pressure ensures a positive bond between the two sheets of paper. The build plate then returns to the build height where an adjustable Tungsten carbide blade cuts one sheet of paper at a time, tracing the object outline to create the edges of the part. When this cutting sequence is complete, the 3D printer deposits the next layer of adhesive and so on until the part is complete.

SDL is one of the very few 3D printing processes that can produce full colour 3D printed parts, using a CYMK colour palette. And because the parts are standard paper, which require no post-processing, they are wholly safe and eco-friendly. Where the process is not able to compete favourably with other 3D printing processes is in the production of complex geometries and the build size is limited to the size of the feedstock.

EBM

 

The Electron Beam Melting 3D printing technique is a proprietary process developed by Swedish company Arcam. This metal printing method is very similar to the Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) process in terms of the formation of parts from metal powder. The key difference is the heat source, which, as the name suggests is an electron beam, rather than a laser, which necessitates that the procedure is carried out under vacuum conditions.

EBM has the capability of creating fully-dense parts in a variety of metal alloys, even to medical grade, and as a result the technique has been particularly successful for a range of production applications in the medical industry, particularly for implants. However, other hi-tech sectors such as aerospace and automotive have also looked to EBM technology for manufacturing fulfillment.

05 - Materials

The materials available for 3D printing have come a long way since the early days of the technology. There is now a wide variety of different material types, that are supplied in different states (powder, filament, pellets, granules, resin etc).

Specific materials are now generally developed for specific platforms performing dedicated applications (an example would be the dental sector) with material properties that more precisely suit the application.

However, there are now way too many proprietary materials from the many different 3D printer vendors to cover them all here. Instead, this article will look at the most popular types of material in a more generic way. And also a couple of materials that stand out.

Plastics

Nylon, or Polyamide, is commonly used in powder form with the sintering process or in filament form with the FDM process. It is a strong, flexible and durable plastic material that has proved reliable for 3D printing. It is naturally white in colour but it can be coloured — pre- or post printing. This material can also be combined (in powder format) with powdered aluminium to produce another common 3D printing material for sintering — Alumide.

ABS is another common plastic used for 3D printing, and is widely used on the entry-level FDM 3D printers in filament form. It is a particularly strong plastic and comes in a wide range of colours. ABS can be bought in filament form from a number of non-propreitary sources, which is another reason why it is so popular.

PLA is a bio-degradable plastic material that has gained traction with 3D printing for this very reason. It can be utilized in resin format for DLP/SL processes as well as in filament form for the FDM process. It is offered in a variety of colours, including transparent, which has proven to be a useful option for some applications of 3D printing. However it is not as durable or as flexible as ABS.

LayWood is a specially developed 3D printing material for entry-level extrusion 3D printers. It comes in filament form and is a wood/polymer composite (also referred to as WPC).

Metals

A growing number of metals and metal composites are used for industrial grade 3D printing. Two of the most common are aluminium and cobalt derivatives.

One of the strongest and therefore most commonly used metals for 3D printing is Stainless Steel in powder form for the sintering/melting/EBM processes. It is naturally silver, but can be plated with other materials to give a gold or bronze effect.

In the last couple of years Gold and Silver have been added to the range of metal materials that can be 3D printed directly, with obvious applications across the jewellery sector. These are both very strong materials and are processed in powder form.

Titanium is one of the strongest possible metal materials and has been used for 3D printing industrial applications for some time. Supplied in powder form, it can be used for the sintering/melting/EBM processes.

Ceramics

Ceramics are a relatively new group of materials that can be used for 3D printing with various levels of success. The particular thing to note with these materials is that, post printing, the ceramic parts need to undergo the same processes as any ceramic part made using traditional methods of production — namely firing and glazing.

Paper

 

Standard A4 copier paper is a 3D printing material employed by the proprietary SDL process supplied by Mcor Technologies. The company operates a notably different business model to other 3D printing vendors, whereby the capital outlay for the machine is in the mid-range, but the emphasis is very much on an easily obtainable, cost-effective material supply, that can be bought locally. 3D printed models made with paper are safe, environmentally friendly, easily recyclable and require no post-processing.

Bio Materials

 

There is a huge amount of research being conducted into the potential of 3D printing bio materials for a host of medical (and other) applications. Living tissue is being investigated at a number of leading institutions with a view to developing applications that include printing human organs for transplant, as well as external tissues for replacement body parts. Other research in this area is focused on developing food stuffs — meat being the prime example.

Food

 

Experiments with extruders for 3D printing food substances has increased dramatically over the last couple of years. Chocolate is the most common (and desirable). There are also printers that work with sugar and some experiments with pasta and meat. Looking to the future, research is being undertaken, to utilize 3D printing technology to produce finely balanced whole meals.

And finally, one company that does have a unique (proprietary) material offering is Stratasys, with its digital materials for the Objet Connex 3D printing platform. This offering means that standard Objet 3D printing materials can be combined during the printing process — in various and specified concentrations — to form new materials with the required properties. Up to 140 different Digital Materials can be realized from combining the existing primary materials in different ways.

06 - Global Effects

Global Effects on Manufacturing

3D printing is already having an effect on the way that products are manufactured – the nature of the technology permits new ways of thinking in terms of the social, economic,environmental and security implications of the manufacturing process with universally favourable results.

One of the key factors behind this statement is that 3D printing has the potential to bring production closer to the end user and/or the consumer, thereby reducing the current supply chain restrictions. The customisation value of 3D printing and the ability to produce small production batches on demand is a sure way to engage consumers AND reduce or negate inventories and stock piling — something similar to how Amazon operates its business.

Shipping spare parts and products from one part of the world to the other could potentially become obsolete, as the spare parts might possibly be 3D printed on site. This could have a major impact on how businesses large and small, the military and consumers operate and interact on a global scale in the future. The ultimate aim for many is for consumers to operate their own 3D printer at home, or within their community, whereby digital designs of any (customizable) product are available for download via the internet, and can be sent to the printer, which is loaded with the correct material(s). Currently, there is some debate about whether this will ever come to pass, and even more rigorous debate about the time frame in which it may occur.

The wider adoption of 3D printing would likely cause re-invention of a number of already invented products, and, of course, an even bigger number of completely new products. Today previously impossible shapes and geometries can be created with a 3D printer, but the journey has really only just begun. 3D printing is believed by many to have very great potential to inject growth into innovation and bring back local manufacturing.

Potential Effects to the Global Economy

The use of 3D printing technology has potential effects on the global economy, if adopted world wide. The shift of production and distribution from the current model to a localized production based on-demand, on site, customized production model could potentially reduce the imbalance between export and import countries.

3D printing would have the potential to create new industries and completely new professions, such as those related to the production of 3D printers. There is an opportunity for professional services around 3D printing, ranging from new forms of product designers, printer operators, material suppliers all the way to intellectual property legal disputes and settlements. Piracy is a current concern related to 3D printing for many IP holders.

The effect of 3D printing on the developing world is a double-edged sword. One example of the positive effect is lowered manufacturing cost through recycled and other local materials, but the loss of manufacturing jobs could hit many developing countries severely, which would take time to overcome.

The developed world, would benefit perhaps the most from 3D printing, where the growing aged society and shift of age demographics has been a concern related to production and work force. Also the health benefits of the medical use of 3D printing would cater well for an aging western society.

07 - Benefits & Value

3D printing, whether at an industrial, local or personal level, brings a host of benefits that traditional methods of manufacture (or prototyping) simply cannot.

Customisation

3D printing processes allow for mass customisation — the ability to personalize products according to individual needs and requirements. Even within the same build chamber, the nature of 3D printing means that numerous products can be manufactured at the same time according to the end-users requirements at no additional process cost.

Complexity

The advent of 3D printing has seen a proliferation of products (designed in digital environments), which involve levels of complexity that simply could not be produced physically in any other way. While this advantage has been taken up by designers and artists to impressive visual effect, it has also made a significant impact on industrial applications, whereby applications are being developed to materialize complex components that are proving to be both lighter and stronger than their predecessors. Notable uses are emerging in the aerospace sector where these issues are of primary importance.

Tool-less

For industrial manufacturing, one of the most cost-, time- and labour-intensive stages of the product development process is the production of the tools. For low to medium volume applications, industrial 3D printing — or additive manufacturing — can eliminate the need for tool production and, therefore, the costs, lead times and labour associated with it. This is an extremely attractive proposition, that an increasing number or manufacturers are taking advantage of. Furthermore, because of the complexity advantages stated above, products and components can be designed specifically to avoid assembly requirements with intricate geometry and complex features further eliminating the labour and costs associated with assembly processes.

Sustainable / Environmentally Friendly

3D printing is also emerging as an energy-efficient technology that can provide environmental efficiencies in terms of both the manufacturing process itself, utilising up to 90% of standard materials, and, therefore, creating less waste, but also throughout an additively manufactured product’s operating life, by way of lighter and stronger design that imposes a reduced carbon footprint compared with traditionally manufactured products.

Furthermore, 3D printing is showing great promise in terms of fulfilling a local manufacturing model, whereby products are produced on demand in the place where they are needed — eliminating huge inventories and unsustainable logistics for shipping high volumes of products around the world.

08 - Applications

The origins of 3D printing in ‘Rapid Prototyping’ were founded on the principles of industrial prototyping as a means of speeding up the earliest stages of product development with a quick and straightforward way of producing prototypes that allows for multiple iterations of a product to arrive more quickly and efficiently at an optimum solution. This saves time and money at the outset of the entire product development process and ensures confidence ahead of production tooling.

Prototyping is still probably the largest, even though sometimes overlooked, application of 3D printing today.

The developments and improvements of the process and the materials, since the emergence of 3D printing for prototyping, saw the processes being taken up for applications further down the product development process chain. Tooling and casting applications were developed utilizing the advantages of the different processes. Again, these applications are increasingly being used and adopted across industrial sectors.

Similarly for final manufacturing operations, the improvements are continuing to facilitate uptake.

In terms of the industrial vertical markets that are benefitting greatly from industrial 3D printing across all of these broad spectrum applications, the following is a basic breakdown:

Medical and Dental

 

The medical sector is viewed as being one that was an early adopter of 3D printing, but also a sector with huge potential for growth, due to the customization and personalization capabilities of the technologies and the ability to improve people’s lives as the processes improve and materials are developed that meet medical grade standards.

3D printing technologies are being used for a host of different applications. In addition to making prototypes to support new product development for the medical and dental industries, the technologies are also utilized to make patterns for the downstream metal casting of dental crowns and in the manufacture of tools over which plastic is being vacuum formed to make dental aligners. The technology is also taken advantage of directly to manufacture both stock items, such as hip and knee implants, and bespoke patient-specific products, such as hearing aids, orthotic insoles for shoes, personalised prosthetics and one-off implants for patients suffering from diseases such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and cancer, along with accident and trauma victims. 3D printed surgical guides for specific operations are also an emerging application that is aiding surgeons in their work and patients in their recovery. Technology is also being developed for the 3D printing of skin, bone, tissue, pharmaceuticals and even human organs. However, these technologies remain largely decades away from commercialisation.

Aerospace

Like the medical sector, the aerospace sector was an early adopter of 3D printing technologies in their earliest forms for product development and prototyping. These companies, typically working in partnership with academic and research institutes, have been at the sharp end in terms or pushing the boundaries of the technologies for manufacturing applications.

Because of the critical nature of aircraft development, the R&D is demanding and strenuous, standards are critical and industrial grade 3D printing systems are put through their paces. Process and materials development have seen a number of key applications developed for the aerospace sector — and some non-critical parts are all-ready flying on aircraft.

High profile users include GE / Morris Technologies, Airbus / EADS, Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Boeing. While most of these companies do take a realistic approach in terms of what they are doing now with the technologies, and most of it is R&D, some do get quite bullish about the future.

 

Automotive

 

Another general early adopter of Rapid Prototying technologies — the earliest incarnation of 3D printing — was the automotive sector. Many automotive companies — particularly at the cutting edge of motor sport and F1 — have followed a similar trajectory to the aerospace companies. First (and still) using the technologies for prototyping applications, but developing and adapting their manufacturing processes to incorporate the benefits of improved materials and end results for automotive parts.

Many automotive companies are now also looking at the potential of 3D printing to fulfill after sales functions in terms of production of spare/replacement parts, on demand, rather than holding huge inventories.

Jewellery

 

Traditionally, the design and manufacturing process for jewellery has always required high levels of expertise and knowledge involving specific disciplines that include fabrication, mould-making, casting, electroplating, forging, silver/gold smithing, stone-cutting, engraving and polishing. Each of these disciplines has evolved over many years and each requires technical knowledge when applied to jewellery manufacture. Just one example is investment casting — the origins of which can be traced back more than 4000 years.

For the jewellery sector, 3D printing has proved to be particularly disruptive. There is a great deal of interest — and uptake — based on how 3D printing can, and will, contribute to the further development of this industry. From new design freedoms enabled by 3D CAD and 3D printing, through improving traditional processes for jewellery production all the way to direct 3D printed production eliminating many of the traditional steps, 3D printing has had — and continues to have — a tremendous impact in this sector.

Art / Design / Sculpture

 

Artists and Sculptors are engaging with 3D printing in myriad of different ways to explore form and function in ways previously impossible. Whether purely to find new original expression or to learn from old masters this is a highly charged sector that is increasingly finding new ways of working with 3D printing and introducing the results to the world. There are numerous artists that have now made a name for themselves by working specifically with 3D modelling, 3D scanning and 3D printing technologies.

• Joshua Harker
• Dizingof
• Jessica Rosenkrantz at Nervous System
• Pia Hinze
• Nick Ervinck
• Lionel Dean
• And many others.

The discipline of 3D scanning in conjunction with 3D printing also brings a new dimension to the art world, however, in that artists and students now have a proven methodology of reproducing the work of past masters and creating exact replicas of ancient (and more recent) sculptures for close study – works of art that they would otherwise never have been able to interact with in person. The work of Cosmo Wenman is particularly enlightening in this field.

Architecture

 

Architectural models have long been a staple application of 3D printing processes, for producing accurate demonstration models of an architect’s vision. 3D printing offers a relatively fast, easy and economically viable method of producing detailed models directly from 3D CAD, BIM or other digital data that architects use. Many successful architectural firms, now commonly use 3D printing (in house or as a service) as a critical part of their workflow for increased innovation and improved communication.

More recently some visionary architects are looking to 3D printing as a direct construction method. Research is being conducted at a number of organizations on this front, most notably Loughborough University, Contour Crafting and Universe Architecture.

Fashion

 

As 3D printing processes have improved in terms of resolution and more flexible materials, one industry, renowned for experimentation and outrageous statements, has come to the fore. We are of course talking about fashion!

3D printed accessories including shoes, head-pieces, hats and bags have all made their way on to global catwalks. And some even more visionary fashion designers have demonstrated the capabilities of the tech for haute couture — dresses, capes, full-length gowns and even some under wear have debuted at different fashion venues around the world.

Iris van Herpen should get a special mention as the leading pioneer in this vein. She has produced a number of collections — modelled on the catwalks of Paris and Milan — that incorporate 3D printing to blow up the ‘normal rules’ that no longer apply to fashion design. Many have followed, and continue to follow, in her footsteps, often with wholly original results.

Although a late-comer to the 3D printing party, food is one emerging application (and/or 3D printing material) that is getting people very excited and has the potential to truly take the technology into the mainstream. After all, we will all, always, need to eat! 3D printing is emerging as a new way of preparing and presenting food.

Initial forays into 3D printing food were with chocolate and sugar, and these developments have continued apace with specific 3D printers hitting the market. Some other early experiments with food including the 3D printing of “meat” at the cellular protein level. More recently pasta is another food group that is being researched for 3D printing food.

Looking to the future 3D printing is also being considered as a complete food preparation method and a way of balancing nutrients in a comprehensive and healthy way.

Consumers

 

The holy grail for 3D printing vendors is consumer 3D printing. There is a widespread debate as to whether this is a feasible future. Currently, consumer uptake is low due to the accessibility issues that exist with entry level (consumer machines). There is headway being made in this direction by the larger 3D printing companies such as 3D Systems and Makerbot, as a subsidiary of Stratasys as they try to make the 3D printing process and the ancillary components (software, digital content etc) more accessible and user-friendly. There are currently three main ways that the person on the street can interact with 3D printing tech for consumer products:

• design + print
• choose + print
• choose + 3D printing service fulfillment

09 - Glossary

3DP 3D Printing

ABS Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene

AM Additive Manufacturing

CAD / CAM Computer-aided design / Computer-aided manufacturing

CAE Computer-aided engineering

DLP Digital Light Processing

DMD Direct Metal Deposition

DMLS Direct Metal Laser Sintering

EBM Electron Beam Melting

EVA Ethylene Vinyl Acetate

FDM Fused Deposition Modelling (Trademark of Stratasys)

FFF Freeform Fabrication

LENS Laser Engineering Net-Shaping (Trademark of SNL, licensed to Optomec)

LS Laser Sintering

PLA Polylactic Acid

RE Reverse Engineering

RM Rapid Manufacturing

RP Rapid Prototyping

RT Rapid Tooling

SL Stereolithography

SLA Stereolithography Apparatus (Registered Trademark of 3D Systems)

SLM Selective Laser Melting

SLS Selective Laser Sintering (Registered Trademark of 3D Systems)

STL / . stl Stereo Lithograpic

2022 trends in 3D printing, forecasts from additive manufacturing experts and leaders

What are the 2022 3D printing trends that additive manufacturing experts consider the most important?

3D Printing Industry asked academics, C-level executives, engineering experts, and investors to tell us about the future of 3D printing in 2022. 

The message is clear, 3D printing’s potential across verticles including aerospace, automotive, and medical is still growing. 

The pandemic has provided a shot in the arm for the industry, as weak links in the supply chain were cast in sharp relief additive manufacturing as part of the factories of the future took prominence on the agenda once again. Progress in material qualification and demand for higher performance materials at increasing volume illustrates the confidence manufacturers are placing in the suite of AM technologies. While addressing sustainability challenges demonstrates an industry in tune with modern times.  

Turning to finance, the burst of IPO activity in 2020 and 2021 may not be as strong, however, funding raised from investors is likely to accelerate M&A activity during 2022.

The responses cover trends towards consolidation, production, automation, wider developments in the manufacturing eco-system (including post-processing), and advances in software such as the digital thread, simulation, and the increasing use of AI. 

Do you have a different opinion or want to let us know your thoughts? As always, please get in touch, we love hearing from readers. 

Finally, this is the first article in a series looking at the future of 3D printing and manufacturing technology, so make sure you subscribe to our free newsletter and don’t miss the next installment. 

This is a long read, with over 40 CEOs, leaders, and experts weighing in. So make yourself a nice cup of tea, get comfortable and settle in for insights, analysis, hot-takes, and even the answer to that eternal question: what links Taylor Swift with Titanium?

Formnext returned for business in 2021. Photo by Michael Petch.

Arno G. Held, Managing Partner, AM Ventures

After the big SPACs and IPOs in 2020 and 2021, the year 2022 is going to show a continued market consolidation. I do not expect many companies to go public anymore but those who have taken this step in the past will certainly work hard on delivering on their promises to their investors by announcing major acquisitions serving to expand their offerings. Especially the first half of the year could be densely packed with news and activities.

On top of this, a whole range of exciting start-ups is once again preparing the launches of interesting new resin-based technologies which is going to unlock entirely new applications. In the metals arena, there are several high-volume applications in the making that could boost the two- and four-wheeled electro-mobility.

Just like in the past year, there is a likelihood that the summer dull could be skipped once again in order to make use of a good climate in our industry to close and announce deals. However, there are also increasing concerns that the current hype cycle is facing a cool down towards mid/end of the second half of 2022.

Dr. Jeffrey Graves, President & CEO, 3D Systems

Across our markets, we’re seeing the adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) solutions rapidly accelerating to address a broader range of applications. More organizations are thoughtfully exploring AM for very specific applications and wanting to work with a partner who can not only integrate the entire solution and make it work seamlessly in their existing production workflow but also collaborate on developing a custom solution for their needs. This includes industrial applications such as exotic machine components for rocketry, automobiles, and semiconductor capital equipment, as well as in healthcare for patient-specific medical devices and tools that can elevate the patient experience.

As we enter 2022, I believe we’ll continue to see AM play a critical role in transforming manufacturing workflows and supply chains. Significant delays in logistics are hampering organizations’ ability to deliver products and services in a timely fashion. Being able to manufacture all critical components at the point of assembly, or point of care can streamline these activities.

I also anticipate AM’s ability to enable mass customization will bring enormous value to a host of applications to benefit both industries and people. From automotive to aerospace, semiconductor capital equipment manufacturers to service bureaus, and healthcare providers, AM has the power to improve efficiencies by simultaneously producing numerous unique, end-use parts.

At the heart of each production application is the material which is used to bring an innovative design to life. Materials play a significant role in AM and have really changed the game. With advances in this area, we’ve seen AM move from a technology for prototyping to one that is addressing production applications. As we look to the year ahead, I anticipate we’ll see advances in materials, including extending the technology to biological materials, which are what the human body is made of. These new materials have the opportunity to play a key role in the field of regenerative medicine enabling the use of AM to address key laboratory research applications for drug discovery, as well as to create arteries, veins, and eventually human organs. This can allow us to move beyond changing how businesses operate and how healthcare is delivered to directly improving the human condition.

Bart Van der Schueren, CTO, Materialise

AM has proven its value for a lot of different applications and business models. Due to the supply chain challenges of the last two years, it gained additional attention. This has accelerated the adoption of the technology, but it challenges the users and the AM industry as well. As the walls between conventional manufacturing process and 3D printing production are disappearing, these two eco-systems now start to connect and create a more integrated production environment.

Such a unified, increasingly digital production environment enables greater efficiency, repeatability, scale, and control, but it requires a common resource and that is data. Data will play an increasingly crucial role in 3D printing. It’s not only about the access to data, but how organizations and users are enabled to harvest, use and protect their own data.

Manufacturing becomes smart when we are able to analyze the data and translate it into actionable insights. That way it is possible to improve the process, scale up production and, ultimately, make better products. By connecting data of different processes and levels, workflows can be optimized and automated. This will require an AM software platform that can connect to all the systems and datasets found in the production environment and beyond. At the same time organizations need to be able to protect their intellectual property. In case of AM this is as relevant for the part designs as it is for the process itself. During the 3D printing process, the material and the product are created simultaneously. Specifically in that aspect, the role of data is probably more important in 3D printing than in traditional manufacturing.

But even in such a data-rich context, the domain-specific knowledge of human experts is required to optimize the process before it makes sense to automate it. In other words, if you use a lot of data to automate and scale up a bad production process, you still end up with a bad process. The key is, to combine the right technology with the right expertise.

Andreas Langfeld, President EMEA, Stratasys

In 2022, we will see a bigger move towards certified additive production to replace or complement traditional production processes. Specifically for spare parts, we will see less warehousing and more on-demand additive production, which will also support corporate sustainability goals. Selected materials and technologies will be certified and built parts will meet industry-specific requirements such as accuracy or flammability. We have already seen this with aerospace-certified FDM printed parts in aircraft.  

Mohsen Seifi, Director of Global Additive Manufacturing Programs, Martin White, Head of Additive Manufacturing Programs – Europe Region, UK, Alexander Liu, Head of Additive Manufacturing Programs – Asia Region, Singapore, & Terry Wohlers, Head of Advisory Services and Market Intelligence, ASTM International’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence

In the year ahead, we anticipate a push in two key areas: 1) the use of in-situ monitoring systems for process and component certification and 2) post-processing to improve products quality. For critical applications, in-situ monitoring will provide a method for risk-based structural integrity and allow certification of large parts that cannot easily go through CT scanning. From an ASTM perspective, we are currently working with NASA on a three-year project to understand where in-situ monitoring can be used to detect and understand the effects of defects on structural integrity.

On the post-processing side, it is evident that to develop robust/reliable parts and products, surface finish and internal structure (microstructures, porosity level) needs to be optimized. In some cases, more than 60% of the final product cost is coming from post-processing, so we are seeing a real push in the industry to improve product quality. We believe post-processing will have a major impact on the success of AM, as was apparent at Formnext 2021.

Ric Fulop, co-founder, and CEO, Desktop Metal  

Additive manufacturing will provide companies the opportunity to re-shore production. There has been massive growth and consolidation in the additive manufacturing space, which is providing companies the ability to rethink their manufacturing operations and re-shore them back to the U.S. as it becomes more affordable. For example, the jewelry industry started in Manhattan, but most of the jewelry hasn’t been manufactured there for over 50 years due to costs. Now, companies have access to additive manufacturing wherever they want the parts made and don’t have to rely on consolidation and transportation across the world. This will result in an increase in jobs within the U.S., an emphasis on education for the workforce, and a decrease in reliance on long supply chains. 

Innovation in manufacturing won’t be new, it will be the standard. Manufacturing has stalled due to the ongoing challenges facing companies. From commodity shortages to supply chain issues, the industry has been stuck in a “new normal” for the last 18 months, but has been unable to employ the tools needed to adapt. With manufacturing accounting for just 14 percent of GDP in the U.S. in 2019 and dropping even more throughout the COVID-19 pandemic (McKinsey Sept 2021), the manufacturing industry embracing new technology will need to become the standard. This means that the industry can’t wait for tomorrow’s innovations—the industry giants need to look to emerging technologies to solve problems, today.  

A scaled-back Rave ’til AM at Formnext 2021. Photo by Michael Petch.

Didier Deltort, President, HP Personalization & 3D Printing Business

We’ll see more innovative applications and opportunities to embrace the circular economy in industries like automotive and healthcare where high costs and complex logistics have previously acted as a barrier to widespread adoption. Consumers will be brought in much earlier into the design process in sectors like footwear and sports equipment, leading to increased satisfaction and brand loyalty. We are on the cusp of an innovation boom – driven by our need for more meaningful connections to the products we buy and the brands we support – that will reverberate throughout all elements of business and manufacturing as we know it.

We are obviously very excited about the promise of additive for mass metal manufacturing. Auto manufacturers are among the most demanding in the world and in 2021 we saw leaders such as Volkswagen highlight the use of metal binder jetting for structural components. As we move toward broader commercial Metal Jet availability in 2022 we look forward to showcasing new production applications with partners and customers.

David Iacovelli, Regional Director EMEA, EOS

Sustainability has become a driving force in society as across the globe nations stride forward to meet the goals they have set for themselves on net-zero economies during the COP26 conference. In 2022, AM will become more dominant as a key route to achieving this with the new opportunities it creates for organisations across the design and manufacturing workflow.  Every day parts are being redesigned to be lighter and stronger, while using less material, but we will see more companies take on new approaches to their workflow in 2022, embracing decentralized manufacturing, digital warehousing, and production on demand to name but a few.   Sustainable manufacturing is now being viewed as not just environmentally, but economically viable.

New sustainable materials too will be more commonly used in 2022 and beyond, such as our own Carbon Neutral PA11 which offers huge advantages across a wide range of industries.  These new materials play a key role in helping manufacturers reduce the weight of components and powder waste, while optimizing CO2 emissions, as delivering full recyclability of parts and powder.

Nora Toure, Founder, Women in 3D Printing

From a diversity perspective, we’ve seen an increased interest from the industry for more gender parity and broader diversity, in terms of race, background, experience.

I would expect interest to increase furthermore and be translated into action, especially as the AM industry opens itself more to cross-industries and technologies, and thus, welcomes more external talents. At Wi3DP, we’re working on a couple of programs that would enable organizations in our industry to take those actions in diversifying their workforce.

Franco Cevolini, CEO & CTO, CRP Technology

Creation of new performing materials able to respond to the requests of the market. And a shortened supply chain.

Let me better explain: As a 3D printing service for the high-end market, we offer advanced technological solutions and we constantly work to enhance performance and services. Our customers ask us for something more, something new: some want more mechanical performance, others need a higher heat resistance or a superior fluid seal. We always receive new requests to increase the possibilities of using additive manufacturing in order to shorten the supply chain.

This is a very crucial issue, accelerated by the pandemic: our customers need a lean supply chain, unconnected to the past, traditional technologies.

Avi Reichental, co-founder & CEO, Nexa3D

The next year will be defined by trends determined in large part by the perpetual pandemic state of affairs. The last two years have exposed a highly complex and brittle supply chain, which is top of mind for most product companies and driving CEOs to accelerate the digitization and localization of their supply chain with AM playing a central role with emphasis on speed, throughput, cost, and sustainability.

With more companies transitioning to volume additive production, we will experience stronger demand for scaled post-processing and full factory automation solutions that are anchored by advanced and adaptive machine learning and vision technologies for greater production consistency and yields.

We will surely see expanded open innovation and collaboration ecosystems in which everyone achieves more. This collaborative mindset will drive faster adoption and technology advancements benefiting from greater talent and geographical diversity as our definition of workplace gets hybridized.

Nexa3D enter the desktop market with Joel Telling at Formnext 2021. Photo by Michael Petch.

Brian Thompson, CAD Division Vice President and General Manager, PTC

Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) will continue to grow, with software being a critical driver in the adoption of industrial additive manufacturing. We will continue to overcome the current fragmentation of point solutions and build towards a connected eco-system, combining hardware, software, and materials. 

We expect to see movement and excitement around post-processing for 3D metal printing.  A lot is going on with technologies to complement the printing process itself and that implies a certain maturity in metal printing processes, at least for several niche markets.  

Hybrid manufacturing (one machine doing both additive and subtractive) will continue to be a hot topic and to mature with people looking to combine 3 and 5-axis milling with additive in the same machine, optimized by software control, eliminating the need for separate post-processing equipment. 

We’re already witnessing great strides in the prediction of deformation in metal printing, but even in plastics, we expect to see more interest in simulation tools to solve the distortion problems inherent to manufacturing with polymers.  We also expect to see products that improve the predictability of polymer printing.   

Last, we’re also expecting to see more focus on the end-to-end digital thread on the entire value chain, from concept to post-processing and on to quality control and inspection.  In our own experience here, we’ve had a demonstration project featuring not only an innovative heat exchanger (an achievement in itself), utilizing the flagship technologies of CAD (design & simulation), PLM (process plan & data management), and IIOT (job order execution and monitoring), right down to the use of Augmented Reality (AR) to ‘bring’ the part to the table of someone half a world away! You’re not going to see companies adopt this wholescale in September 2022, but it’s where we’re going.

Stephan Kühr, Founder and CEO, 3YOURMIND

We don’t need a crystal ball to know that the future of 3D printing is bright. The global pandemic has proven that AM and 3D printing technologies play an influential role in manufacturing. The shift toward supply chain agility, speed, and reliability will be the cornerstones of a decentralized manufacturing revolution. In 2022, we expect a ‘post-proof of concept’ year for AM. 

I see four main trends that will be at the core of the coming year: 

Increased need for AM standardization and automation in the production processes 

High demand to find and evaluate new business cases

AM cost justification

Strengthen AM suppliers networks

These are the foundations to create the future factories – and the biggest companies have already started!

Tremendous potential exists in the 3D printing industry to trigger creativity by addressing industry challenges that prompt idea generation, initial design, and pilot solutions.

Frank Roberts, President, 6K Additive 

Customers are constantly demanding new parts for additive manufacturing and seeking products involving higher-performing metals. Refractory materials such as tungsten and tungsten-rhenium are examples of materials becoming increasingly popular due to their resistance to certain processes. At 6K Additive we are seeing a huge rise in the demand and requirements for refractory powders at production volumes.

The industry will also continue to focus on sustainability to overcome the environmental challenges brought about by dirty processes in the supply chain starting with powder. The industry will start to demand documented proof from life cycle analysis programs from third parties to limit greenwashing and provide more holistic data – particularly with reference to supply chain.

Kaj Fuehrer, CEO, enter2net.com

A topic that has been in the starting blocks for some time will finally be commercially realised in 2022: The printing of vector graphic slices derived from STEP/B-Rep data for laser-based 3D printing technologies. The laser will then run real curves and circles, not polygonal lines obtained from tessellated data. This certainly has some potential to simplify data handling and improve print quality for modern SLM and SLS printers.

Joseph Crabtree, CEO and Founder, AMT 

In the coming year, we see an immediate and positive shift from low volume prototyping to high volume manufacturing. This is no longer an aspiration but is happening right now, right here. AMT is at the heart of several big projects that validate the entire thesis behind AM. These projects to provide end-to-end automated workflows are driven by the applications which are now starting to see commercial reality in 2022. Automotive and medical are a big focus area in 2022 and we expect this continued high-volume adoption to continue especially given the continued headwinds of supply chain problems initiated by the C19 pandemic.

Post-processing by AMT at Formnext 2021. Photo by Michael Petch.

Daeho Hong, Product Manager, nTopology

In 2022, many businesses will evolve their key additive manufacturing applications from prototyping and R&D to production. We expect to see more product validations and launches in aerospace, automotive, heavy industry, and medical devices than we’ve seen in past years. More integrated and automated AM workflows will be favored for streamlining the product development and manufacturing processes through integrations between enterprise systems, AM software, and hardware. Stabilizing the selected AM technologies, scaling up to reduce costs, and implementing quality control strategies will be the main challenges this year as we witness the progression from prototyping to production.  

Gil Lavi, Founder & CEO, 3D Alliances

In the short term, I see more synergies between the following four pillars: 3D software, 3D printers, Post-processing, and materials for 3D printing. With the increased awareness and demand by industrial users for implementing AM across their manufacturing processes, solution providers understand the importance of connecting the dots to one end-to-end workflow. Therefore, in the coming year, I see more intimate collaborations between hardware, software, and materials 3D printing companies, to help users to integrate AM in real production. Another challenge I see is for publicly traded 3D printing companies to conquer their top evaluations in 2021. Only a few will be able to do so, based only on strong financial results. For the longer term, simply put, this industry will continue to grow and break boundaries, finding new ways to transform analog and manual processes into digital ones.

Kathy Bui, Product Lead, Engineering Business, Formlabs

In 2022, the use of 3D printing will increase as more innovative materials come to market to serve a variety of industries such as healthcare, dental, manufacturing, engineering, education, jewelry, audio, and entertainment. In addition to evolving the existing materials to advance their affordability, functionality, and efficiency, advancements in material production will open up new markets while enabling manufacturers to reduce wasted materials and lower costs. In 2022, material innovation will be critical in the future growth of 3D printing in manufacturing and beyond.

As the healthcare industry continues to grapple with challenges such as labor shortages, the ongoing pandemic, and demand for more personalized healthcare, 3D printing is the technology that can both improve and streamline key medical processes. These demands spark the inflection point that will lead to increased adoption of 3D printing within medical practices and offices.

3D Printing Industry Awards winner at Formnext 2021. Photo by Michael Petch.

Oliver Smith, Founder, Principal Consultant, Rethink Additive

Whilst the COVID pandemic dealt huge economic damage to a wide range of industries through 2020 and 2021, it drove a radical reappraisal of 3D printing in the minds of supply chain strategists, procurement and operations leaders, and even government agencies; a rapid response solution to crippling supply chain disruption.  

Now, as we move into a new stage of relative economic stability in 2022, industries are catching a breath and turning back to 3D printing, not from a position of hurried panic, but in a considered and strategic approach looking to seriously appraise and invest in the technology as a key component to their production and sourcing strategies. 

2022 will see a marked increase AM adoption by organisations both large and small who have become aware of it’s benefits firsthand or from media coverage in the face of supply chain disruption caused by COVID. This second wave of media “hype” however differs from that of the early 2010s, where the promises of the technology didn’t reflect the reality of their capabilities.  The hype wave that kicks of this decade sees 3D printing 10 years more mature, and capable of true series production applications; not until 2020 has there been such a diverse range of technologies, vendors, materials, and price points available to organisations looking to adopt 3D printing beyond prototyping.

Whilst larger platform vendors such as EOS, Stratasys, HP, and 3D Systems will continue to vertically target with high-performance, high-productivity systems, many historically lower-cost players such as FormLabs and Ultimaker have aggressively re-engineered and re-branded towards series production “on a budget”.  The traditional barrier to entry for 3D printing beyond prototyping has never been lower, and with a significant portion of the market becoming much more aware of 3D printing as a production solution, we should expect these entry-level production systems to support a whole new wave of users in 2022; those who want to bring 3D printing to their production floor, but have a budget.

Dr. Johannes Homa, CEO, Lithoz 

Here at Lithoz, we are seeing a big surge of interest in the power of ceramics. The desirable material properties of ceramics, when combined with the manufacturing possibilities of 3D printing, allow for far more complex and fine geometries. This is opening the door to entirely new applications, including applications entering serial production, which will make the next year very exciting in terms of seeing in which industries 3D printing will next take off!

As well as ceramics, however, sinter-based metal materials beyond BPJ are also getting more and more attention in the additive manufacturing field due to the high-quality results we are seeing from such components. Finally, there are new high-performance plastic materials coming onto the market, which are sure to find new applications and uses in many diverse industries over the next year.

Roger Uceda, Technology Transfer Director CIM-UPC & co-founder BCN3D 

I am sorry to tell you that Additive Manufacturing is a mature technology (this is good news!) so I do not expect to see any new shiny technology in the market. What I see as a trend is metal additive manufacturing through the combination of different processes such as FFF, MIM and why not, CNC. This is something that I expect to grow potentially during the next months.

Henrike Wonneberger, COO and co-founder, Replique

3D printing technologies are developing quickly and the demand is for them to be bigger, faster, and cheaper. As more and more businesses switch to 3D printing, these advancements will accelerate. With processes such as freeform printing, without the use of support structures, the versatility of 3D printing is growing, and we see uptake of 3D printing in industries that hadn’t previously considered it. We expect to see further developments with this, as its potential for cost and time savings are highly favourable.

Rush LaSelle, Senior Director, Additive Manufacturing, Jabil

We expect continued focus on decreasing production costs using additive technologies. The results will aid greatly in justifying the use of additive over traditional manufacturing for mid-volume and price-sensitive applications. Key cost pools will include achieving higher throughput per CAPEX dollar associated with industrial printers, as well as reduced labor costs and less time from design-to-delivery, along with relief from high material pricing.

Reducing the costs to procure and operate 3D printers remain critical factors for operators focused on serial production. As users strive to realize the benefits of additive manufacturing for higher-volume applications, the ability to increase throughput is imperative. Providing larger numbers of lasers within powder-bed platforms or higher deposition rates while improving print resolution will deliver better economics and more attractive returns on capital investments.

Dependency on highly-trained workforces across the full production lifecycle will continue to be a barrier despite expanded workforce training and greater automation of preproduction processes. Training for office, engineering, and production personnel, as well as expanded process automation, will contribute to wider AM utilization beyond prototyping, bridge, and high-value sectors.

Issues with additive material supply chains will continue to impact the high cost of parts. This has been, in part, artificially inflated as system providers manage closed ecosystems to recoup investments in their existing technology portfolios. Until recently, the volume of materials consumed by 3D printers has been relatively unattractive to the largest material suppliers. It is expected that the dynamics will continue shifting in the short term with more machine suppliers permitting open-sourced materials while large polymer and metals suppliers engage increasingly in the space to reduce powder and filament costs.

Luis Folgar, EVP Americas, AMT Inc.

Post-production demands and requirements will increase for the adoption of 3D printing as a sustainable production process.  Energy efficiency and sustainability will be metric that many service providers will have to quantify and demonstrate as production programs transition to AM.

Filemon Schoffer, co-founder and CCO, Hubs

3D printing will continue to dominate as a prototyping and tooling solution, its killer application. And as more engineers explore what 3D printing can bring to their businesses, more will use the full extent of services from online manufacturing platforms, like Hubs, for their 3D printing needs.

Jonah Myerberg, co-founder, CTO and SVP of Global Engineering, Desktop Metal

New sustainability expectations put forth by state and federal governments will push companies to embrace the 4th industrial revolution. The automotive industry has seen the greatest impact of green initiatives – from EV mandates in the state of California, to President Biden’s Build Back Better plans. This will bleed into other industries in 2022 including retail, consumer goods, aerospace, healthcare, and more—leading companies to more fully embrace and realize the 4th industrial revolution. In turn, this will influence companies to build more with less, leveraging new processes – for example, additive manufacturing upcycled sawdust with Forust, a sustainable alternative to traditional wood manufacturing – to provide their businesses with effective and more sustainable solutions.

Facing shortened supply lines, reimagined factories will emerge. Demand and supply chain issues have continued in the wake of the ripple effect from the pandemic. As companies seek new ways to address their supply chain challenges, technologies like additive manufacturing (3D printing), artificial intelligence, and even robotics will play a key role. Moving into 2022, manufacturers will look to embrace these technologies to help shorten their supply lines, reimagine the factory, and revolutionize how global business is done.

Mike Jafar, President, and CEO, Desktop Health

Emerging technology will eliminate the idea of “waiting” for surgery. Personalized healthcare isn’t new—we have seen its application grow especially in digital health as a result of the pandemic. The digitization of data, from MRI to CT scans have always given us access to files which can be converted into a 3D rendering. Until now, the limitation has been the printer and the material science. Both of which have significantly improved due to a decade of university-based research making its way into the public market. This means the next hip transplant needed by an orthopedic patient will be designed, printed, and put in to exactly mirror the real thing. The concept of waiting for a transplant, or waiting for the next shipment of medical devices will become a thing of the past. Immediate, highly customized healthcare will grow to be a mainstay. 

The dental office is going digital. With almost 50% of U.S. consumers’ last dental visit being prior to the pandemic (2019 or before), the dentist industry will feel like an unfamiliar place for patients as they return in the New Year. With the increase in digital health within the primary care office, the dental office will embrace new tools to elevate patient experience. Tools like chairside 3D printing of crowns, dentures/teeth (for example) will increase in use, among other tools that provide highly customized experiences while still cutting down the need for revisits.  

Personalized medicine will change many aspects of medicine from cost savings to time savings – there won’t be an area that isn’t affected positively by 3D printing. Today when a patient needs to have a personalized stint or graft made, they might have to stay at the hospital for several days while that product is being made for them. This would end up costing the patient in the thousands just for the hospital stay. Now with 3D printing, the doctor is able to digitally create the stint or graft needed and create the customized product within just a few hours, significantly cutting the patient’s hospital bill. The personalization of 3D printing for healthcare allows for a better fit, less failure, and greater speed and cost savings. 

Additive manufacturing is going to be our only solution for how we manufacture goods in the future, including healthcare. This isn’t 10 years or even five years out. The future is within the next two years. Companies will need to find more sustainable ways to manufacture their goods. It is an incredible and amazing time to be a part of this industry change that will have such a profound impact on the global thumbprint and our ecosystem. 3D printing is bringing healthcare to the cusp of a revolution through pushing the boundaries and making applications that could minimize inventory, minimize supply chain issues, increase patient care, and decrease time spent in hospitals. Once 3D printing is widespread, you should be able to get something printed to exactly your specifications in 30-60 minutes instead of 1+ weeks.

Amir Veresh, Founder, eConsulting Ltd.

In the last few years, the holy grail for additive manufacturing is to penetrate real manufacturing (as opposed to prototyping and very short production series). Additive manufacturing solutions’ vendors are dedicating much effort to increasing productivity, enhancing yield, strengthening reliability and providing additional materials that fit the real manufacturing needs (mechanical properties, cost, and even, maybe, adherence to existing industry material related standards and regulations).

Wanting to manufacture using additive manufacturing first aimed at addressing needs, such as product improvement by improved geometries, the need for short production series, value identified in customization and personalization, etc., is now fortified by the global supply chains crisis (due to the pandemic, but wouldn’t it happen any way?) and the climate crisis with the understanding that, the way we do things must change significantly, and ASAP. Innovations such as IoT and I4.0 only increase the justification to integrate additive manufacturing as an additional mainstream manufacturing method, sometimes a replacement to, but in many cases complementing traditional manufacturing methods.

To become part of the mainstream, improved technology performance and better materials is a must but not enough; unless accompanied by strong workflow support (from dedicated DfAM tools to specialized ERP modules and different efficiency tools, as well as a huge effort to adapt standards and regulations to additive manufacturing, I believe, there will not be a significant change in the rate of adoption of additive manufacturing in many new and challenging manufacturing segments, that hold huge potential.

Having said that, I believe that 2022 will be a good additive manufacturing year, as even before mass penetration is made possible, there is enough available potential to meet the optimistic forecasts we live by. It will take a long time, if ever, for additive manufacturing, to replace very large chunks of traditional mass manufacturing. But this should not be the target, not even for the long term. The real strength and opportunity for additive manufacturing lies with replacement of manufacturing methods related to low volume – high mix products, and I believe more such suitable segments will be identified in 2022 and the years to come.  

Jordi Drieman, 3D Application Specialist,  Mimaki Europe

Full colour 3D printing is certainly something that I see being a trend in 2022 – while this doesn’t sound like a new trend for 3DP, notably this technology is becoming more and more accessible for entry-level 3D printers, as well as the variety of colours on offer growing. This opens the door for more creatives and educators to produce realistic/true to vision models and other items in the medical, art and gaming sectors for example, now that they have millions of different colours at their disposal.

Notably one of 2021’s biggest 3D events, Formnext, even centred around the theme of ‘Live and in Colour’, a nod to colour 3DP’s importance in today’s industry.

Dr. Alvaro Goyanes Goyanes, Co-founder & CEO, FabRx

In the healthcare and pharmaceutical arena, we will see results for multiple studies evaluating the clinical use of 3D printing for the preparation of medicines. We will also see a bigger investment of pharmaceutical companies in this new technology in the pharmaceutical sector. Pharmaceutical regulatory agencies like FDA and EMA will follow the way initiate by the UK agency (MHRA) regulating 3D printing for Point of Care manufacturing. 

Kristin Mulherin, General Manager, Powder Products, Nexa3D & President Women in 3D Printing

While the transition to production-scale 3D printing has been ongoing, the focus on scaling additive manufacturing for production has greatly accelerated in 2021. Up until recently, however, the focus has been primarily on creating faster, higher-volume printers. Looking towards 2022, there will be more emphasis on the complete AM workflow, automation, and software tools to enable real and scalable production volume printing capabilities.

Chris Connery, VP of Global Analysis, CONTEXT

Some of the key trends for 2022 seen already include (1) proliferation of high-temperature, material extrusion thermoplastic printers (2) composites, (3) Binder Jetting for metal, and (4) company growth by way of consolidation. In high-temperature thermoplastics, the expiration of key Stratasys patents for these type printers has really opened the competitive landscape which looks to accelerate in 2022. Tangential to this is the trend for Composites where companies look to continue to innovate with new product platforms. In Metals, Binder Jetting started to accelerate in 2021 as many projected but looks to really accelerate in 2022 as Desktop Metal begins initial shipments of its Production Systems and fully integrated and accelerates ExOne as HP also starts to commercialize its Metal Jet technology. All this innovation also makes the market ripe for continued consolidation. Key to this consolidation will be the ability for acquiring companies to make one plus one equal more than just two however.

Andre Wegner, CEO, Authentise

Consolidation: There’s a lot of cash sloshing around the additive industry now that a few of the bigger startups have had larger exits through SPACs or otherwise. We’ll see some of that money put to good use in acquisitions, as we’ve already seen in the latter half of last year. Other companies will fail as cash dries up later in the year. Industrial (esp hardware) remains a marathon activity – so many of the 100+ metal startups and the dozens of software startups won’t make it.

Partnering: A software alternative to outright consolidation is partnering. There are so many excellent point solutions in process monitoring, design and beyond that don’t get to tell their tale because it’s hard to displace incumbents and get folks to learn how to use new technologies. That can be overcome by bringing solutions together through partnership, as Authentise has done by announcing the integration of software tools (such as nebumind, Riven or Addiguru) as well as hardware (Solukon) last year. 

Scaled Production: We’ve already heard about metal and polymer use cases of millions of identical parts. We’ll see those come to fruition in 2022, emboldening other, nascent plans for scale.

Martin Hermatschweiler, CEO, Nanoscribe

Sustainability, an ever-increasing performance of mobile devices as well as the Internet of things (IoT) are driving the ongoing miniaturization of precision parts, especially in the field of optics. Additive microfabrication based on Two-Photon Polymerization with optical quality surfaces and with high precision alignment capabilities serves these demands as a key enabling technology, e.g. for photonic packaging applications.

Miniaturization is also the key factor in numerous life science and biomedical applications, may it be for optical or microfluidic sensing, for tissue engineering, for implants, or for drug delivery.

Two-Photon polymerization is thus on a great journey. As we tend to say: Think big. print nano.

Gareth Neal, Customer Applications Manager, Advanced Applications, Technologies & Fluid, Xaar

This year will see the continuation of Additive Manufacturing’s move into scale manufacturing across a variety of sectors and applications. While in many cases this change may not be obvious, as businesses protect their IP, progress will be driven on multiple fronts. From the evolution in new material properties and machine configurations, through to software developments and the definition of throughput capability by production metrics, AM and 3DP will come of age. 

In addition, the complexity of some projects will demand networks where companies work together to enable delivery of a complete solution. Only through collaboration and sharing knowledge across the whole supply chain will the investment, breadth of vision and capability for AM develop, ensuring it becomes an established part of the manufacturing process.

Xavier Martínez Faneca, CEO, BCN3D 

2022 looks exciting and challenging at the same time. Last year was a tough one, as we had to face the never-ending pandemic plus a crisis in logistics and materials sourcing. At BCN3D, we are convinced that 2022 will be a more positive year in terms of the launch of new innovations, and we’re currently working along these lines. Although new waves of Covid and supply chain issues remain present, we’re still optimistic about 2022. The feeling I get from players both within and outside the industry leads us to believe that we are facing a better year in general. The importance of software will also be very relevant in 2022 – our findings from the market tell us that there is a need for developed software to accompany hardware innovations. We believe that this year 2022 will see growing demand from industries, such as automotive, for metal 3D printing with our FDM technology because it gives access to small parts printing at an affordable price, easy to use on our machines and with very optimal metal filament quality. We also believe that this year will consolidate the clear trend in today’s society towards sustainability. And in this respect, additive manufacturing can help to reduce industrial emissions and limit the carbon footprint and 3D printing should provide the right solutions to accelerate this change.

Sylvia Monsheimer, Head of New 3D Printing Technologies, Evonik

We can already see in some areas that the market is consolidating. I expect this trend to continue next year. I’m also convinced that not only from Evonik’s perspective we can expect even more new materials to be launched in the market next then which will lead to more real productions. And last but not least, sustainability aspects will be the most important topic across the entire value chain, and maybe this is a great opportunity for additive manufacturing in general.

Fedor Antonov, CEO, Anisoprint

The main trend, industrialization, will continue next year, too. The number of industrial machines will increase, with a wider variety of technologies and materials. More industries will adapt functional parts and end-use parts, we will see an increasing number of applications.

And of course, the market will continue to grow despite the corona crisis and actually not only despite, but due to the supply chain and logistics problems the crisis has revealed. Many companies face difficulties with their supply chains, and 3D printing can help them. This is an ideal time for 3D printing to become more widely used in industrial applications.

Dr. Ingo Ederer, CEO, Voxeljet

We have already noticed this year that many customers, whether OEMs or SMEs, are interested in larger machines with increased productivity. The trend towards series production as well as the production of spare parts using AM is thus clearly recognizable for us and will continue to consolidate in 2022. In addition, there is an increasing demand for a wide variety of materials, some of which are also sustainable, as more and more industries discover the potential of additive manufacturing for themselves and would like to process materials that are outside the AM classics such as PA12. It, therefore, stands to reason that the binder jetting process will continue to consolidate its place in industrial applications, as it combines productivity and material diversity in a unique way.

James DeMuth, Founder & CEO, Seurat

More multi-laser systems will be released but will result in minimal improvement in speed for LPBF. We’ll also see progress on the capabilities of tuning laser parameters to increase quality (i.e. less supports, higher resolution).

Dr. Joshua Pearce, John M. Thompson Chair in Information Technology and Innovation, Western University, Canada

Over this next year we can expect to see increasingly sophisticated open-source computer vision (CV) and artificial intelligence (AI) applied to both industrial as well as consumer-grade 3-D printers making them ‘smart’. These smart 3-D printers will not only detect errors, but fix an increasingly challenging list of errors in real-time. In the past, the primary challenges of operating 3-D printers have been overcome by global collaboration, which now sees even low-end and DIY 3-D printers come with auto-bed leveling and filament runout detectors. This year will provide the start of CV and AI that will help further democratize AM for even more distributed manufacturing. 

Alessio Lorusso, CEO, Roboze

Each day it becomes clearer that AM will continue to rise in innovative and surprising ways to assist and improve the current disruptions in the supply chain. I believe we have only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to distress in the supply chain and Additive is going to continue to surprise us all as it finds increased ways to respond and provide solutions to this global problem.

John Barnes, Managing Director, and Laura Ely, Director of Programs, The Barnes Group Advisors

Our approach to 2022 can be summed up by Taylor Swift’s appropriately titled “22”:  “Yeah, we’re happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time.   It’s miserable and magical, oh yeah. I don’t know about you, But I’m feeling 22, Everything will be alright if You keep me next to you”.  

And 22 is the atomic number for Titanium, the best metal, so what’s not to look forward to? 

We will continue the steady and tedious progression to productivity via better machines, more machines, and better understanding of the digital workflow which may even cause a re-think in some areas.  As we like to say, AM is magical but not magic because too often, AM is brought in after all the other methods have been defeated, leaving AM and magic as the alternatives.  AM will be less magic and more magical which will help reduce the misery and increase consistency.

Subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter for the latest news in additive manufacturing. You can also stay connected by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook.

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Featured image shows XJET 3D printed ceramics at Formnext 2021. Photo by Michael Petch.

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VII All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference "3D Technologies in Medicine"

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On February 17, 2023, the VII All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference "3D Technologies in Medicine" will be held

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Medical 3D Printing Association

• Latest technology

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• The future is near

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• Innovative Medicine

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Members of the Association

3D technology

Biotechnology

04. 10.2022

VII All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference "3D Technologies in Medicine"

Administrator 54 0

On February 17, 2023, the VII All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference "3D Technologies in Medicine" will be held

Read further

18.02.2022

I Congress of Traumatologists and Orthopedists of the Volga Federal District (May 19-20, 2022)

Administrator 429 0

Acceptance of applications for participation with reports in the section Biotechnology and new materials in traumatology and orthopedics has begun

Read further

01/31/2022

III Conference "Additive technologies for medicine: world and Russian experience"

Administrator 573 0

Results of the III conference "Additive technologies for medicine: world and Russian experience"

Read further

25. 07.2021

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the use of individual layouts for preoperative planning

Administrator 796 0

Dear colleagues!!! We invite you to take part in survey

Read further

05/28/2021

TOMSK 3D DESIGN TEAM PRINTING BONES ON A PRINTER

Administrator 1068 0

IN THE DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL ONCOLOGY OF THE TOMSK NIMC WORKING A GROUP OF 3D-DESIGN OF IMPLANTS

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05/28/2021

Results of clinical testing of hybrid knee endoprostheses

Administrator 1051 0

GITO-INNOVATION LLC conducted clinical testing of personalized precision hybrid endoprostheses

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Russia will host the Eurasian Orthopedic Forum for the third time

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Eurasian Orthopedic Forum

will be held in Russia for the third time Read further

11.01.2021

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BASED ON PATENTED SOUND INDUCED MORPHOGENESIS (SIM)

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Administrator 1466 0

RESEARCHERS CREATED NEW

HYBRID BIO-INK Read further

11/21/2020

VIDEO RECORDING OF THE VI ALL-RUSSIAN SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL ONLINE CONFERENCE "3D TECHNOLOGIES IN MEDICINE"

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VIDEO RECORDING OF THE VI ALL-RUSSIAN SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL ONLINE CONFERENCE "3D TECHNOLOGIES IN MEDICINE"

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