Posts Tagged "metal 3D printing"

As Terry Wohler’s put it best, this is the year of metal 3D printing. At trade shows globally, metal 3D printing has been a main focus for both speakers and attendees. 3D printing with plastics has advanced to the point where individuals can purchase a small, affordable and pretty compact desktop printer for their home and get to printing out their designs almost immediately. 3D printing with metals is not to this point yet, the current methods are not that simple or affordable. However, metal 3D printing is making strides this year and below we have gathered a few of the notable developments in this small, yet quickly growing, market segment.

Metal 3D Printing industry expected to be worth as much as $10 billion by 2030 to 2035.

Today, 3D printing is a very small part of the metals industry, but it is growing rapidly and this market is expected to be worth as much as $10 billion by 2030 to 2035. Already, a number of healthcare and aerospace companies have adopted the technology. Some are running pilots to see how 3D metal printing can contribute to their operations while others are using 3D printers to produce metal prototypes in-house. (McKinsey & Company)

High volume parts product arrives.

Tech giant HP Inc on Monday, October 10^th, launched the worlds most advanced 3D printing technology for the mass manufacturing of production-grade metal parts.

Called HP Metal Jet, the technology is up to 50 times more productive — delivering low-cost, high-quality mechanically functional parts for the auto, industrial and medical industries to begin with. (Machinery)

Researchers appear to have found a simpler method for 3D printing metal.

Jan Schroers, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Yale University and Desktop Metal, Inc., in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA and colleagues think they’re onto a simpler way of additively manufacturing metal using bulk metallic glasses (BMGs). These can be continuously softened when heated and have a “super-cooled liquid region in their thermodynamic profile”.

“We have shown theoretically in this work that we can use a range of other bulk metallic glasses and are working on making the process more practical- and commercially-usable to make 3D printing of metals as easy and practical as the 3D printing of thermoplastics,” said Schroers. (All 3DP)

Flood of new entrants to the market segment.

Many new metal technologies have already been announced this year, and there are even more on the way. If you’re thinking about investing in a very high cost metal 3D printer today, it might be wise to wait a couple years. The market is moving so fast that any equipment purchased today might be obsolete in only a few years. (Fabbaloo)

The metal 3D printing industry is on the rise. Manufacturers, businesses and researchers are working hard to push the technology forward. While it won’t eliminate the needed for traditional manufacturing methods, it will be one very powerful tool in your toolkit when it comes to manufacturing.

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