3D Printers: Still only for Prototyping, or Is There Mass-Production Potential?
Today, I‘d like to talk about the 3D printing industry. We hear a lot about 3D printing potential, its applications in the near future, and its capability for Just in Time (JIT) manufacturing. But where is 3D printing technology today in the context of industrial production? Is it still emerging, or are there already real cases of serial production? These are some of the key questions I would like to address in this article.
A long list of materials are used in 3D printing today, including resins, graphite, graphene, nitinol, and paper, as well as some others. However, in this article, I will only concentrate on the main ones.
Plastic is the most common material for 3D printing. 3D printing of plastic is already being widely used among industries for the purpose of prototyping. Toys and household fixtures, meanwhile are modern examples of end-use
products. Plastic products are generally made using fused deposition modelling (FDM) printers, in which thermoplastic filaments are melted and molded into shape, layer by layer. We will not go into further detail on 3D printer technology types in this article, but you can explore the subject yourself here. The most common types of plastic used are polyastic acid, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and polyvinyl alcohol plastic.
The second-most popular material is metal, which is used in this industry through a process known as direct metal laser sintering (DMLS). This technology has already been embraced en masse by machine manufacturers, developers of air-travel equipment, and makers of jewelry products, among others. In the meantime, the use of 3D-printed parts is taking flight in the aerospace industry. An extensive range of metals are applicable to this technology, including stainless steel, bronze, gold, nickel, aluminum, and titanium.
In the printing process, the metal used in 3D printing originates in dust form. The metal dust is then fired at a rapid rate to attain its hardness. This allows printers to bypass casting, and make direct use of metal dust in the formation of metal parts. Metal dust is most commonly used in 3D printing to produce prototypes of metal instruments, , but it has also been used to produce finished, marketable products, such as jewelry. Powderized metal has even been utilized to make medical devices.
The use of metal dust for 3D printing allows for a significant reduction in the number of parts required for the finished product. For example, 3D printers have successfully produced rocket injectors that consist of just two parts, whereas a similar device welded in the traditional manner will typically consist of more than 100 individual components.
To date, the most promising 3D printing technology for industrial production purposes is considered to be printing from composite materials. These materials are typically comprised of core polymer material and a reinforcing material, like chopped or continuous fiber. The potential applications of composites are particularly exciting, since they are approximately up to 5 times stronger than steel at 20% of its weight, and up to 60 times stronger than a standard polymer like ABS.
The 3D printer consequently allows you to give anisotropic properties for all or part of a product, which enables you to customize the strength and elastic properties of the product.
As a result of their significant promise, composite 3D printers have received the most active development over the last 3 years. In the diagram below, you can see a depiction of the current key composite technologies, and the main industry players that are using them.
From observing the industry, we can determine that metal and composite material show the most promise for serial production in 3D printing. By comparing them in terms of speed, composites are clearly at an advantage, being more than 2 times faster than metal.
It is also self-evidently important to compare the cost of 3D printing with different materials, as well as with conventional casting/milling technologies. Please note that for this comparison, approximate figures were used. A more comprehensive and accurate evaluation, meanwhile, would require a full understanding of the volumes, material types, and production technologies used in the manufacturing of the product.
3D printing with metals is 5–10x more expensive than industrial production methods, making it difficult for this method to compete in this sector. 3D printing with composites, however, is already competitively priced in small and medium quantities in and is also significantly faster in terms of production speed.
Today, the polymer 3D printing market is valued at $5–6B in 2021, including composites. The composite share alone is worth approximately $700M. Stratasys and Markforged are major players in this segment, with 25% and 8% shares respectively.
Stratasys is currently the №1 company in the composite 3D printing market, though it also operates in other 3D printing segments. Its current market capitalization is $1.59B, with $521M total revenue in 2020. According to expert feedback, we discovered what revenue share the composite technology occupies in the company, and further subdivided this area into type of production.
In addition, it is worth noting that composite 3D printers are rarely used for standard prototyping (mainly polymer printers are used for this purpose), but are popular for functional prototyping purposes. A Functional Prototype is a sample of a product built to test a concept or process, and is highly similar to the end-product in terms of material properties.
35% ($180M) of Stratasys’ revenue stems from composites, 30% of which comes from serial production (small and medium-sized batches), and 70% of which comes from functional prototyping. Additionally 80% of this composite revenue comes from printer sales, while 20% stems from recurring material sales.
Markforged is a top-2 player in the market. In February 2021, Markforged agreed to go public through a merger with a blank-check firm, in a deal valuing the equity of the combined company at $2.1B. Markforged’s revenue is estimated at $70M with a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 70% (30 p/s multiple).
Based on our data, the composite share of Markforged is 80%, or $56M. Their composite revenue has also been consistently growing over the last 3 years. In addition, we are aware that 90%+ of their composite revenue comes from clients who use printers for either serial production or functional prototyping.
The main additive value proposition for manufacturing with composite materials is the low cost for small and medium batches.
We estimate that industrial use cases comprise up to 30% of the composite 3D printer market. Below, you will find a list of the most popular cases composites 3D printing can be used for, with real-life examples.
Tooling for manufacturing. Example: Cashco purchased a Markforged composite 3D printer to create strong, low-volume 3D printed tooling. This led to a 90% reduction in need for metal tooling work, and a 75% reduction in manufacturing time.
- Jigs and fixtures — This term refers to a work-holding device that holds, supports, and locates the workpiece, while also guiding one or more tools to perform a specific operation.
Example: Wärtsilä replaced a steel lifting tool with a part which was printed by a carbon fiber 3D printer. - Drones and Robotics — specific parts for drones and robotics. The value proposition of 3D printed parts in this segment is that this process can produce lighter and stronger components, as well as custom-made ones.
- Bikes — today, 12 models of bikes are produced using 3D printing. Some of these are even commercialized products which are readily available on the market. Examples: Empire Cycles, Arevo bike, Specialized Bicycles and others
- Automotive — final parts for a limited series of automotive vehicles. Example: Mercedes-Benz Trucks and Daimler Buses has used additive manufacturing for plastic series-production parts since 2016. p
- Aerospace — making short run parts for usage. Examples: NASA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Airbus, among others, all make use of the Stratasys industrial printer for this purpose.
- Other uses — The ongoing development of the 3D printing industry means that it is being implemented in an ever-growing list of sectors, including sport, defense, and healthcare.
Functional prototyping currently represents 70% of the composite 3D printing market. The main industries which specifically benefit from composite 3D printing: are the automotive, aerospace, and medical sectors, as well as consumer-packaged goods.
For your reference, please see below a list of key players in the composite 3D printing space. In total, we counted 27 startups that were producers of 3D printers.
To complement this research, we additionally decided to detail the most recognizable venture deals in the composite 3D printing space between 2020 and 2021.
The Boston-based startup Fortify announced a $20M equity round in March 2021, led by Cota Capital, with additional participation from Accel Partners, Neotribe Ventures, and Prelude Ventures.
Stratasys bought Origin, an American 3D printing company, for $100M in December 2020, and, two months later, acquired the stereolithography provider, UK-based RP Support.
Markforged agreed to go public through a merger with a blank-check firm, in a deal valuing the equity of the combined company at $2.1B.
Intamsys (China) raised an undisclosed amount of venture funding, in a deal led by Sequoia Capital China, in February 2021.
Desktop Metal acquired EnvisionTEC for $300M at the beginning of 2021.
Arevo raised $33M in venture funding from Defy Partners, GGV Capital, and crowdfunding (Indiegogo), between September and October 2020.
AARRIS composites raised $49M from Taiwania Capital, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Valo Ventures, and Alumni Ventures Group in March 2020, increasing the company’s valuation to $164M.
9T Labs from Switzerland raised $4.3M in seed funding from Wingman Ventures, Investiere and ESA BIC in early 2020.
As a bonus, I want to briefly mention 4D printing, though today, this is still to some extent a futurological pursuit.
4D printing is a unique extension of 3D printing that enables changes in the shapes and properties of the printed articles to be made in real-time. 4D printing has already demonstrated the potential to fabricate smart components which can self-repair, self-assemble, and self-adapt. This new process specifically refers to the integration of 3D printing with smart materials, to develop printed components that can change into multiple configurations in response to environmental stimuli, such as temperature, the presence of chemical agents, radiation, mechanical stress, pH levels, and electric and magnetic fields. Right now, the materials most commonly used for 4D printing are hydrogels and shape memory polymers. Despite the exciting possibilities associated with it, 4D printing still has many hurdles that it must overcome to achieve its potential as a manufacturing technology. Examples of these major obstacles include the material’s mechanical strength reduction, and its longer response times to stimuli, which results in a slow rate of shape changes. The following infographic gives a brief overview of how 4D printing differs in relation to 3D printing.
Despite its relative newness as a technology, there already exists a real-world case of an industrial use of 4D printing. This is the self-inflatable material developed by BMW, in collaboration with MIT. The material, made of silicone, inflates when triggered by air pulses, and could represent the future of pneumatics.
What’s more, there are also several other research and development activities being undertaken by key players in the 4D printing industry. For instance, some of its applications in the healthcare industry include the development of targeted drug delivery systems, the fabrication of stents for minimal surgical invasion, and the development of shape changing splints. Other applications in the industrial domain include the development of soft robotics, and hydraulic and pneumatic actuators. For more information on 4D printing, you can click on this link.
