Layering Up

Dec 06, 2023

Additive manufacturing builds a case for mainstream applications in 2023 and beyond

After a brief slowdown during the pandemic, the additive manufacturing (AM) industry has roared back with a vengeance, fueled by pent-up demand and growing acceptance, as well as technical advances, innovative partnerships, and seemingly unlimited opportunities with the potential for meaningful—and sometimes—unprecedented benefits.

The market has soared from $1.7 billion in 2011 to $15.2 billion in 2021—and that's just the first layer of growth. AM is forecast to reach $21 billion this year and top $85 billion by 2031, according to last year's Wohlers Report on 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing (the 2023 edition is due out soon). The annual report, which was first published in 1996, provides a comprehensive look at the latest industry product and process advances, business dealings, trends, and industry challenges, based on interviews and other inputs from hundreds of experts from leading AM companies around the world. In late 2021, Wohlers Associates was acquired by ASTM International, the global standards organization, to support a wider adoption of AM worldwide.

Growth is coming from a variety of fronts. In addition to early adopters in aerospace, automotive, and healthcare, progress is being made in several other industries and among a broader base of companies, said Terry Wohlers, who founded his namesake organization and now heads its advisory services and market intelligence operations.

"Companies are waking up and seeing so many ways in which the technology can potentially be applied," Wohlers said, pointing to emerging uses in food manufacturing, printed electronics, and fashion. "Now those examples are further out there. I don't want to suggest that last year was a big year for any one of those three. It wasn't. But I think companies have come to the realization that so much more is possible with additive."

Despite recent successes, a number of daunting challenges remain. Cost concerns lead the list, along with the need for industry standards and a deeper understanding of AM processes and materials—especially among small firms.

"Overall, additive remains very challenging, and if a customer wants to get into it, they have to jump through quite a few hoops," noted Melanie Lang, CEO of FormAlloy Technologies. "There's the material and process qualification part of it, which is getting easier, but the act of building parts is still fairly difficult for the average shop and requires significant investment in time and resources."

AM's post-pandemic resurgence was underscored by a wave of mergers and acquisitions.

"Over the last 12 months a host of M&A deals occurred, but many of them are small companies whose names the general public wouldn't recognize," Wohlers said. The growing list of players also includes startups and companies that had been working behind the scenes but are now gearing up for production.

At the same time, several corporate heavyweights are making the leap into AM. This includes a mega deal announced in December involving Facebook parent Meta, which acquired Luxexcel. Founded in 2009, the Belgian company makes 3D-printed lenses for eyewear and other types of optical systems, such as LED lighting. The two companies previously partnered on Meta's Aria Project and are expected to expand that initiative by using 3D printing to further develop augmented reality glasses.

In January, Nikon completed its acquisition of a 92% stake in SLM Solutions Group for €622 million ($675 million). The deal will provide Nikon access to SLM's laser powder-bed fusion technology, which the German company helped pioneer. SLM, meanwhile, is expected to benefit from Nikon's optical and precision equipment know-how.

Nikon took an earlier step into the AM world with its 2021 purchase of metal specialist Morf3D. SLM has rebounded after financial problems in 2019 with new contracts with the U.S. Air Force and Rolls-Royce aerospace.

Nikon's investment in SLM is the latest in a string of noteworthy AM-related activity by large Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi and DMG Mori, Wohlers said. Although Japan was a key player in some of the industry's early development, Wohlers said the country's involvement had slowed until recently. He attributes Japan's renewed interest in part to timing—even if there are no immediate plans to use the tech for their own products, companies risk losing out on potentially strong partners if they wait too long.

"Ownership in these companies gives them insight into the technology, applications, and the overall market so they can make good decisions around additive manufacturing," Wohlers said.

AM is building momentum in the building and construction industry. Although an early version of the technology dates back to the 1930s with William Urschel's patented "Wall Building Machine," (a two-story structure made from the process is still standing in Indiana), the modern additive construction (AC) industry is still in its infancy but holds great promise, the "Wohlers Specialty Report on Construction" noted. Hailed as a potential game-changer, AC could enable greater design freedom, automation, and process repeatability, as well as cost savings and the construction of more sustainable structures—all of which could eventually help alleviate the global housing crisis.

There's been some recent progress. Germany's Peri Group, for example, has completed several AC projects since 2020. This includes a single-story, 1,700-sq-ft [158-sq-m] house in Tempe, Ariz., that sports 3D-printed load-bearing interior and outer walls.

One of the keys to future growth for AM in construction and other sectors is establishing industry standards for the technology. This includes regulations, specifications, and guidelines for materials and processes, as well as product qualification and certification.

"Industries don't grow and mature without standards," Wohlers said, pointing out that aerospace, automotive, energy, and healthcare are all highly regulated with well-defined certification processes and standards for conventional manufacturing. The lack of AM standards adds time. As an example, Wohlers cited a meeting with a top Israeli aerospace company last year. "They told me they could finish an additive design within weeks, but it took months, even a year or longer to get everything qualified and certified."

The good news, he said, is the AM community has "woke up to understanding the importance of standards," and is starting to make headway. Since 2009 when ASTM formed the international F42 committee for additive manufacturing, 47 consensus standards have been developed and published by either ASTM or a collaboration between ISO and ASTM, according to Wohlers. Moreover, he noted, another 87 were in development as of March of this year.

The number of AM medical devices certified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has jumped from less than a dozen a decade ago to more than 250 today. Wohlers envisions this growing exponentially in coming years with thousands of FDA-certified additive products.

3D-printed hearing aids and dental devices already are widespread, and at least one orthopedic manufacturer has predicted that 100% of its implant products will eventually use AM. For spinal implants, Wohlers explained that AM enables the use of lattice structures that "integrate well into the bone and actually will grow into them, so you get better osseointegration with these types of implants versus those that are cast and machined."

Part of the allure of additive manufacturing is that it can be used to create unique shapes and highly customized products, with the potential to significantly impact part consolidation and mass reduction. A few noteworthy recent innovations and developments over the last year include:

--California-based Divergent Technologies developed a flexible automotive system that combines 3D printing with generative design. The company is working on 20 different vehicle platforms, including Divergent's own 1,200-hp 21C hypercar. Last year the company began supplying 3D-printed rear assemblies (with multiple aluminum parts) to Aston Martin. Divergent, which has more than 500 patents, claims its technology can slash part counts by 80% and reduce mass by 20-70%. The company has raised about $500 million, including a $100 million investment from Hexagon in December.

--In February, Wilson Sporting Goods unveiled a 3D-printed airless basketball. Comprised of a black, see-through lattice with eight "panel-like lobes," the prototype is nearly identical to the weight, size, and bounce specifications of current NBA balls—but it doesn't need to be inflated. Wilson contracted EOS for the project's 3D printing, while General Lattice provided computational design services.

--Polymer materials company Evonik partnered with BellaSeno to commercialize 3D-printed scaffolds for bone regeneration. The Evonik polymers combine excellent stability and flexibility, allowing the scaffold to be safely absorbed at a rate that matches the formation to the patient's own bone, according to the companies. AM eliminates the limitations of traditional treatments for bone and soft tissue defects, which lack stability and can't be packed in a controlled manner.

--Ford's redesigned Mustang Shelby GT500 is fitted with two 3D-printed brake parts built at the automaker's Advanced Manufacturing Center in Detroit, which is outfitted with two dozen 3D printers—including a fully autonomous systems.

--Toy giant Hasbro teamed with 3D-printing innovator Formlabs to develop the Hasbro Selfie Series, which allows fans to create a 6-inch action figure—based on Marvel, G.I. JOE, and other popular characters—in their likeness. A special smartphone app was created to allow buyers to quickly scan their faces. Formlabs was selected based on the quality of its stereolithography printers and versatile resins, according to Hasbro.

--Stratasys inked a deal with Ricoh to provide 3D-printed anatomic models for clinical settings. The project combines Stratasys’ 3D-printing technology, Axial3D's cloud-based "Segmentation-as-a-Service" solution, and AM services from Ricoh into one system. 3D-printed anatomic models, which are said to be biomechanically realistic with the feel and responsiveness of real bone and tissue, allow doctors to practice complex surgeries.

AM also is making strong inroads in tooling. "It's become a real sweet spot for large forming tools," Wohlers noted. "And when I say large, I’m talking about several feet in all directions, which can be very expensive."

Akron, Ohio-based Additive Engineering Solutions (AES) uses additive for trim fixtures. Using a standard thermoplastics feedstock in pellet form, AES melts and extrudes them to build large tools.

"It's not new, but we’re seeing a lot more of it, and there's a good reason for this," Wohlers said. "Companies don't do something unless they can make money with it. These machines have gotten to a point where they’re very good. Coupled with a customer's determination to make it work by adding subsystems and maybe tweaking software, hardware, or both, can really pay off for them."

Another benefit: Manufacturers can use AM to integrate automation systems. For a gantry machine or other type of motion system, Wohlers said, a robot can improve reach and precision, and can hold deposition heads and cutting tools. "So for big metal parts that almost always require finished machining, that can kind of look like a welded type surface, so you deposit and then machine.

He continued: "You move the part away from the DED (directed-energy deposition) system and then mount it in existing platforms such as CNC milling. These types of applications can help develop DED systems. But it's not one-size-fits all, you have to look at the job. Is it a good fit for casting and machining or is it best for DED and machining?"

FormAlloy, which was launched in 2016, specializes in DED systems. Lang, who was featured in SME's Voices AMplified series, said the company's equipment has five axes of motion, closed-loop control, multiple wavelength lasers, and powder feeders that can deposit 16 different alloys in the same build—or even layer.

Converting an existing product design to AM typically will cost more than producing it via conventional manufacturing methods. Moreover, most companies that are exploring or starting 3D-printing projects are doing so blindly.

"Companies are going down this road and making substantial investments without knowing for sure if they can justify the cost of a new design to be built additively," Wohlers cautioned. "That's a deterrent. You’re spending weeks, months, maybe longer, but not knowing for sure where you’re going to land. It takes a lot of time, planning, and experience to be successful."

For starters, Wohlers said, companies need to embrace design for additive manufacturing tools such as topology optimization—which he describes as letting math decide where to place materials and optimize the strength-to-weight ratio. The big four CAD suppliers (Autodesk, Dassault Systèms, PTC, and Siemens) also have gotten into AM in a big way.

"If you take the same product and consolidate many parts into a single component, this could become a big advantage for additive," Wohlers said. "Then you take it a step further and begin to remove material using topology optimization, coupled with lattices and mesh structures. You may not even need solid walls in your design to reduce cost and weight."

Manufacturing execution systems (MES), which have long been a staple for traditional manufacturers, are also gaining traction in AM. The tech can be used for quoting, purchasing, and tracking jobs throughout the product lifecycle—down to individual machines and different materials.

MES is even more useful for AM, because manufacturers may need to track thousands of different versions of the same part, even within a single build cycle. "Centralized MES is particularly important when you’re dealing with a lot of capacity, which employees and customers in multiple sites can now track and manage as needed," Wohlers said.

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