Aug 29 2015
ResearchMoz has added a report titled “Global and China 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Market 2015-2025: Industry Analysis, Shares, Size, Trends, Growth, Technologies, Key Players and Forecast” to its research report database.
3D printing has received much attention in the press over recent years. Hyped as the technology to bring about a 3rd industrial revolution, 3D printing technologies were in fact invented in the early 80s. They remained a niche technology until the expiration of a key patent in 2009 allowed many startups to emerge offering cheap consumer-level 3D printers. A media frenzy in 2012 thrust 3D printing into the limelight and major players are reporting dramatic growth in everything from consumer to high-end metal printers.
3D printing encompasses a variety of different printing processes. The processes are all primarily additive in nature, as materials are deposited only where needed, and thus results in significantly less materials wastage than traditional manufacturing techniques. Each of the technologies is suitable for use with a different range of materials, which in turn defines the suitable applications of the printer.
With 3D printing designs are not constrained by manufacturing limitations and design complexity no longer adds cost. This opens up design avenues and enables the economic production of lighter components, critical to the aerospace and automotive industries. Applications are also emerging in the medical and dental fields, where the opportunity afforded by cheap mass customization is allowing surgeons to replicate a patient's body based on MRI and CT scans in order to practice difficult invasive procedures, and medical and dental implants which are fully customized to a particular individual can be generated.