3Diligent report highilghts state of 3D metal printing

3Diligent released a report in January that looks at existing and emerging metal 3D printing (3DP) processes.

Intended for product designers and companies considering a metal 3DP project, the 24-page “2019 State of Metal 3D Printing Report” summarizes the following metal 3DP processes:

- powder bed fusion (laser melting and electron beam melting);

- binder jetting (sand print-to-cast, full sinter, and infiltrated);

- directed energy deposition;

- sheet lamination;

- material jetting;

- extrusion;

- cold spray;

- stir welding;

- print-to-plating; and

- hybrid systems (additive with milling).

The report documents the growth of metal 3DP, citing several high-profile projects involving Fortune 500 companies.

The report also notes that metal 3DP has yet to experience a transformative breakthrough in the same way as polymer-parts printing. The report spotlights a few technologies that may represent candidates for this breakthrough in metal printing efficiency.

According to 3Diligent, a provider of rapid-manufacturing services that includes 3DP, CNC machining, casting, and molding, 45 percent of the printing projects it performed in 2018 were metal 3DP. In 2015, just 14 percent of its 3DP work was printed metal parts.