Innovations Shaping The Next Chapter In AM: What's Next?

Until recently, 3D printing manufacturers were limited by the physical properties of plastics. Now, new materials are opening doors to exciting applications across industries. One important advancement is metal 3D printing. Using a mixture of nickel, stainless steel, aluminium, or other metal alloys, manufacturers can produce fit-for-purpose parts with unrivalled strength and heat resistance. 

Titanium alloys like Ti-6Al-4V, for example, are highly valued in aerospace thanks to their weight-to-strength ratio. Nickel-based alloys, in contrast, are preferred in the energy, electronics, and other sectors that demand corrosion resistance.

There are a few different methods used to 3D print metal, but perhaps the most widespread is the powder bed fusion (PBF) technique. This involves melting a layer of metal powder using either a laser (known as direct metal laser sintering) or an electron beam (known as electron beam melting).

Both of these processes enable complex, custom components to be produced at scale with an incredible level of precision. However, there are still challenges to overcome. Handling metal powder can expose workers to potentially harmful health hazards. Metal powders are also prone to oxidation, which can compromise the properties that make them desirable.

Automation and digitisation are changing the way many industries operate, and additive manufacturing is no different.

Automation tools reduce the need for manual labour. Repetitive or meticulous and time-consuming tasks can now be automated. This cuts costs, speeds up production, lifts productivity, and improves accuracy. It also frees human resources to innovate and problem-solve.

Digital solutions like cloud-based design software and artificial intelligence (AI) driven simulation enable rapid prototyping. They're also powering customisation at scale, which is set to transform spaces like health and dental where custom-fit products are needed.

Together, these tech-powered innovations are lowering the barrier to entry for organisations of all sizes. Larger companies like Tesla are building additive manufacturing capabilities in-house. Smaller companies are turning to 3D printing via service models like leasing.

In addition to metal 3D printing, several additive manufacturing techniques are gaining traction:

• The first worth mentioning is rapid liquid printing (RLP). Developed at MIT, the RLP process "draws" material in a gel suspension. The finished product is flexible and requires little to no post-processing. RLP is also capable of producing large-scale parts.
• Dynamic moulding is another emerging technology. It brings the best of 3D printing and injection moulding together to achieve flexibility with both low- and high-viscosity materials. It does this by bypassing the size and shape constraints typical in traditional 3D printing, which makes it ideal for complicated, customised forms.
• Finally, there's volumetric additive manufacturing (VAM). This innovation uses a process much like a CT scan to build objects in resin using light instead of supports.

As advancements in additive manufacturing take hold, its adoption becomes more widespread:

• In aerospace, GE and Airbus leverage 3D printing to produce combustion chambers, rocket engine parts, and other components.
• In automotive, Tesla and Ford use additive manufacturing for sand-cast moulds and specialty car parts. This has lowered their tooling costs while enabling greater design flexibility.
• In medicine, personalised healthcare solutions like prosthetics will become cheaper and more accessible.
• In consumer goods, brands are prototyping with 3D printing, allowing for a more iterative design process that gets higher quality products to market faster. Additive manufacturing also reduces waste to better align manufacturing processes with consumer values.