Update on Trends and Developments in 3D Printing Plastics Market

The global 3D Printing Plastics market is estimated to reach US$2,419 million by 2024, as per a report by Zion Market Research, from approximately US$486million in 2017. The market is expected grow at a CAGR of around 25.75% between 2018 and 2024. Rising advancements in technology combined with 3D technology are projected to foster the growth of the market. Growth and continuous investments made by the leading organizations towards the 3D printing technology and their equipment is one of the factors that is primarily driving the growth of the market. These ongoing investments made by the companies have led to the development of low-cost devices and materials. Moreover, not only prototyping and sampling but product designing and product formation with the help of 3D technology is possible in the modern days. Back in the 1980s, 3D printing technology was in its embryonic stage and the materials in 3D printing used were simple thermoplastics and wax since its role was restricted only for sampling and prototyping. Contrariwise, in the modern day scenario, with the help of technological advancements, 3D printing has progressed beyond prototyping. The increasing demand from end-use industries for production activities and the ongoing expansion of application-specific plastic products coupled with government initiatives across the globe is going to drive the market. These factors are expected to drive the 3D printing plastics market growth over the forecast period.

The 3D printing plastics market is segmented on the basis of type into polymers, metals, ceramics, and others. The polymer type segment will dominate the market in the upcoming years. The growth is attributed to the low production expense of polymers. Also, polymeric reliable as compared to the metal. That is why it is gaining significance across the globe. Based on the form, the3D printing plastics market has been segmented into powder, filament, and liquid. Filament sub-segment is expected to dominate the form segment. The growth of the sub-segment is attributed to the diverse application of filament in medical, healthcare, aerospace, automobile, and food industries. Based on the end-use, 3D printing plastics market has been segmented into healthcare, consumer products, aerospace & defense, industrial, automotive, education & research, and others. Healthcaresub-segment is expected to dominate the end-user segment. The growth of the sub-segments attributed to the significant application of healthcare in dental surgery, replacement of burnt skin, and airway splints for babies with Tracheobronchomalacia(TBM), and many others.

North America is growing with the highest growth rate in the global 3D printing plastics market. The region is likely to continue its domination over the forecast period. The growth of this regional market is attributed to rapid technological advancements across the region. The high adoption rate of 3D technology across various industries will fuel the growth of the regional market. Europe is predicted to have a substantial revenue share in the global 3D printing plastics market. The region is considered as diverse and developed. The rising demand for automotive 3D printing materials for luxury cars and sports cars is going to fuel the market growth in the region. Asia Pacific 3D printing plastics market is anticipated to provide significant growth opportunities for the players during the forecast timeframe. The growth can be attributed to the increasing usage of polymers for the mass production and tooling operations such as such as thermoplastics, ABS, bio-plastics, and resins in automobile and aerospace industry.

As per a report by ResearchAndMarkets.com, the automated 3D printing market is projected to reach US$1,793 million by 2023 from US$196 million by 2018, at a CAGR of 55.65%. Growth of this market is largely attributed to factors such as the increased focus on efficiency and cost of production, growth in adoption of robotics for industrial automation, and growing need to automate post-processing. However, the high cost of installation of automation equipment is expected to restrict the growth of the said market.

The automated 3D printing market for hardware is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Among the hardware types, the adoption of robots is proving to be beneficial for the companies to achieve complete automation. The end users are introducing robots in their 3D printing processes for significant transformation in terms of increased productivity and efficiency, leading to higher levels of output, product quality, and flexibility. These benefits are propelling the adoption of automation hardware in the 3D printing processes. The automated 3D printing market for industrial manufacturing, high-tech equipment, and engineering is expected to register the highest growth during the forecast period. For these end users, additive manufacturing provides new solutions for the low-volume production of different parts, with a new tool-less and cost-effective production method. The group of equipment used in these applications is highly efficient in terms of time and cost. Hence, the automation of 3D printing in this end-user segment is more than that in other end-user segments.

APAC is an economically growing region owing to the presence of technologically strong countries such as China and Japan. The majority of the world's consumer goods and electronics are manufactured in APAC, particularly in China and Taiwan. The economic and manufacturing process of China, supported by tiger economies, are expected to facilitate the transformation of the small batch production capabilities into large batch production capabilities in APAC.

Key players in the automated 3D printing market include Stratasys (Israel), ExOne(US), 3D Systems (US), Materialise (Belgium), Universal Robot (Denmark), Formlabs (US), EOS GmbH (Germany), SLM Solutions (Germany), Renishaw (UK), Concept Laser (Germany), Coobx (Liechtenstein), Authentise (US), NVBOTS (US), PostProcess Technologies (US), and DWS System (Italy). The study includes the in-depth competitive analysis of these key players in the automated 3D printing market, with their company profiles, recent developments, and key market strategies.

New Material Updates:

Putting Additive Manufacturing to work across critical rapid prototyping, custom tooling and part production processes, Stratasys is bringing to market advanced elastomers and enhanced materials for its leading FDM and PolyJet machines. Enabling customers to make it today with 3D Printing, the FDM elastomer solution is intended to provide manufacturers with new levels of elasticity, durability with true soluble support – while advanced colors for PolyJet drive enhanced realism to transform legacy design and prototyping processes. Empowering engineers with fast, accurate, and functional elastomers, customers can now produce parts with unique resilience – with an ability to greatly stretch or compress without losing shape. The Stratasys TPU 92A Elastomer is designed to meet the needs of manufacturers requiring high part elongation, superior toughness, and full design freedom. With hands-free soluble support, the solution can significantly reduce both production time and labor costs. Combined with water soluble supports, it will provide them with the opportunity to produce medium to large, complex, durable and resilient elastomeric parts that were previously not feasible.

BASF 3D Printing Solutions (B3DPS), a subsidiary of German chemical company BASF, has unveiled a range of new AM-related products, including new photopolymer and laser sintering materials. For the SLS market, B3DPS has introduced a new flame-resistant Ultrasint Polyamide PA6 Black FR material, which conforms to UL94 V2 fire protection standards. The material, which boasts high stiffness and good thermal stability, has already been used to manufacture new components for vehicles that meet vehicle fire protection requirements. This project was undertaken in collaboration with an unnamed “leader of public transportation vehicles.” B3DPS is adding polypropylene to its 3D printing portfolio with Ultrasint PP. The new material, for laser sintering technologies, demonstrates excellent mechanical properties, including plasticity, low moisture uptake and liquid and gas resistance. The material is suitable for the production of industrial prototypes and small batch parts and is compatible with post-processing treatments such as thermoforming, sealing and dyeing. Germany based industrial 3D printing systems maker EOS's revolutionary technology for polymer additive manufacturing called LaserProFusion, is currently the only additive manufacturing technology capable to replace injection molding. The technology employs nearly one million diode lasers to melt the material and additively build parts layer by layer. The laser array can achieve a maximum total output of up to 5 kilowatts. For each layer, only the diode lasers that match the CAD data of the part are activated, down to the exact pixel. The new technology significantly shortens exposure times, regardless of the number of parts and their geometry. In addition, EOS will be introducing a materials classification system called Technology Readiness Levels (TRL).