3D Plastic Printing is Positioned to Outdo Manufacturing Growth!

TAGS:  3D Printing    

3D printing or Additive Manufacturing (AM) is still new in a finished manufactured plastics part sense.

Equipment suppliers are still growing rapidly, having expanded from nearly 50 to 100 over the last three years!

It is allowing plastic raw material suppliers who are increasing their focus here, the potential of a novel market development route into traditional end uses.

Let’s take a look at growth trends of 3D printing versus injection molding of plastics...

#1. Increased Global Sales of 3D Printing Equipment

3D printing is growing rapidly with growth rates well in excess of traditional manufacturing, as measured by equipment unit sales, manufacturing revenue, and technology adoption levels.

Yet overall, 3D printing is still miniscule in size at US$7.5 billion compared to the US$15 trillion global manufacturing market. Global manufacturing market is dominated in part from a plastics perspective by more conventional processes such as plastic injection molding and metal CNC machining.

HP Jet Fusion 4210 3D Printer in a Manufacturing Location	Wohlers Report 2018 3D Printing Equipment Systems Overall Global Sales Growth

Plastics roughly comprise 70% of the most commonly used 3D printable materials. 3D plastic printing experienced a market lull in the 2010 to 2014 time period as equipment suppliers consolidated or discontinued business, but has made major growth strides from 2015 to 2018 as a result of ongoing inroads with production scale 3D printers into traditional manufacturing.

Among several polymers, following are the main plastics widely used for 3D printing process today:



3D printing manufacturing systems have grown from 100,000 to 500,000 units over the last four years.

This translated for 3D plastic printing into an average 30% compounded annual growth rate with US$6.5 billion expected in 2018 sales.

By comparison, plastics injection molded products that accounted for US$125 billion global sales volume in 2015 will grow to US$145 billion by yearend 2018 with approximately a 5% compounded annual growth rate.

Yet sales of injection molding equipment have basically been flat with 2.5% growth rates projected for the early 2020s.

#2. Creative Designs Ideas for Hard to Process Engineering Plastics

Injection molding plastics remains the lowest cost option versus 3D plastics printing for standardized volume parts. But 3D plastics printing is improving rapidly and literally taking specialty manufacturing niches away from injection molding.



A case in point is the evolution of hearing aids where 99% of all hearing aids globally are 3D printed. As these audios tailored, high-performance parts grow in volume they are simultaneously encouraging the development of production scale 3D printer systems.

In conclusion, how will the road ahead look for 3D plastic printing over the next ten years?

3D plastic printing will continue to grow rapidly, largely by manufacturing high value-added specialty applications such as:

• Medical
• Electronics
• Aerospace
• Automotive application areas

3D Printing in these areas will develop from an industry maturity suitability level from the stages of (1) research and development, (2) to small series prototyping/making spare parts, and (3) on to industrial series production.

The adoption rate of 3D printing at these three stages of maturity varies among industries. Adoption depends on a complex interplay of the advantages that 3D Printing brings to each industry and the pros and cons of using 3D printing technologies for any specific application.

Industrial designers need to rethink their process to make the most of what 3D Printing excels at. This will enable unprecedented creative freedom, reducing the distance between idea and physical reality and will provide the opportunity to create things that were previously not possible with traditional processes. They also need to apply the economic benefits of digital manufacturing to their design process. New technology will allow them to reconfigure existing structures so they’re optimized for 3D Printing manufacturing, helping to cut down on material and assembly costs.

It will not come at the expense of traditional injection molded products.

Let’s squarely face the facts and what the current data shows is that 3D plastic printing will remain limited in large volume manufacturing due to higher material costs, low volume build capability, and slow production speeds, necessary in mass part manufacturing.

It’s better to think of 3D plastic printing as not directly competitive to plastics injection molding. Instead think creatively from a plastic design, hard to process, specialty high priced plastic resin standpoints.

Think, for example, PEEK (PolyEtherEther Ketone) in high-end application development.



Seize the 3D plastic printing opportunity, mitigate the weaknesses, and profitably grow faster!

Future Scope for 3D Printing Market

From the key and continuously evolving 3D Printing (or AM, additive Manufacturing) processes perspective following are the most effective polymer-based processes for industrialized applications:

• Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) in the PBF, Powder Bed Fusion, technology group, and
• Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) and Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) in the ME, Material Extrusion, technology group

Multi Jet Fusion (MJF), the newest technology, also seems very promising for industrialized applications. Our in-depth analysis has found that these three thermoplastic-based processes will become even more dominant through 2025, as groundbreaking innovations enhance their effectiveness for manufacturing functional parts.



Higher processing speeds for PBF will be promoted by advanced strategies for recoating the powder bed and better fusing processes (for example, the use of new diode laser arrays to fuse powder). ME enables continuous reinforcement with composite plastic materials. So, it has the high potential for producing parts that require superior mechanical properties.

However, the technology is limited in terms of speed, quality, and the realizable complexity of part geometries. Because there is significant potential for multi-color and multi-material printing at high speeds, it is expected that MJF will be more widely adopted.

Improvement Predictions for Traditional Photopolymerization Processes

Traditional vat photopolymerization processes such as SLA, StereoLithography Apparatus, which are already mature, will most likely not see significant improvements in their ability to produce, for example, parts that require superior mechanical properties.

CLIP, Continuous Liquid Interface Production, technology has the potential to enable higher speeds by moving beyond a layer-by-layer process. However, the technology faces challenges with respect to mechanical properties.

3D Printing Professionals - Here's the 'Must Know' for You!

Review state-of-the-art plastic materials developments in 3D printing technology. Join the course: 3D Printing Resins: Latest Development Opportunities to learn the industry's major innovations of 2018.

Commercially Available Polymer Grades Suitable for 3D Printing Process