Opportunities in 3 d printing of metals 2016 2026

Copyright © 2015 IDTechEx | www.IDTechEx.com
Opportunities in 3D Printing
of Metals 2016-2026
Rachel Gordon, Technology Analyst, IDTechEx

Rachel Gordon
Technology Analyst
At IDTechEx, Rachel Gordon leads the research into 3D Printing and
Additive Manufacturing, including writing research reports,
interviewing key players, consulting, curating conferences, and
speaking at events around the world.
She has a BA in Natural Sciences and first-class MSci in Materials
Science and Metallurgy from Cambridge University. She has worked
Cambridge University Engineering Department, University of
Goettingen, and the University of Technology in Hamburg.
Email: r.gordon@IDTechEx.com
Twitter: @rachel_s_gordon
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 812300

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History of 3D Metal Printing
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1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Product Landscape

Total Installed Base of 3D Metal Printers
SLM
88%
EBM
8%
Blown Powder
3%
Metal + Binder
1%
Welding
0%

Selective Laser Melting (SLM)
A powder-bed fusion technique

Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
• Blown powder offers bigger build volumes
and faster build speeds
• Industries like aerospace adopting 3D
printing in metal for the manufacture of
production parts
• Market for much cheaper and simpler SLM
3D printers
• Small build volumes (0.0002m3 up to only
0.13m3)
• Large machines
• Slow build speeds
• Limited to one material
• Expensive machines from $100k
• Fine powders are explosive
• Good accuracy down to 50 microns (width
of a wool fibre)
• Free market metal powder consumables
• Printed objects can be fully dense
Selective Laser Melting (SLM)

3D Printable Metals
Steels Engineering
Metals
Precious Metals Smart Materials
Stainless Steels
Tool Steels
Maraging Steel
Low alloy Steels
Titanium
Aluminium
Nickel
Cobalt
Iron
Niobium
Cobalt Chrome
Nickel Chrome
Inconel
Tungsten
Gold
Platinum
Paladium
Silver
Copper
Bronze
Nitinol

Fine powders allow good resolution, good surface finish and ease of melting.
Very narrow size distribution for good consistency.
Highly spherical powders for optimum spreading.
Low surface area means only a small oxygen content is needed to passivate the
surface, so the powder can be recycled more times and still be within the
specification.
High well-controlled purity.
Powder Requirements
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
EBM
Blown Powder
SLM
Particle Size (microns)

Metal Powders – Key Players

GE Aviation
GE have said they will invest $3.5bn between 2013 and 2017 to reduce fuel consumption by 10%.
The fuel nozzles for LEAP jet engines are 3D printed in a Cobalt-Chrome-Molybdenum alloy.
They are using Direct Metal Laser Melting (DMLM) to melt 20-100 micron layers of a powdered alloy.
Previously nozzles were manufactured by welding together 18 smaller pieces which was labour-intensive
and wasteful.
Design flexibility has allowed the nozzle to be 25% lighter.
They use EOS M-280 printers, but also tested 3D printers from SLM Solutions, Concept Laser and 3D
Systems.
They hope the engines will be in service by 2016.
They are opening a new facility in Alabama, which will print over 114,000 fuel nozzles for use in 6000 jet
engines by 2020.

Airbus subsidiary, Premium AEROTEC, has just opened its first manufacturing facility
for 3D printing titanium aircraft components, where it has begun serial production of
metal 3D printed parts.
The company will be 3D printing complex parts for the A400M military transport
aircraft.
Upon qualification for aviation standards, the firm will be able to supply to Airbus
Defence and Space.
The newly modernized facility houses three metal 3D printers from Concept Laser with
a fourth on standby and a fifth to be added to the operation in May.
Premium Aerotec

Siemens have been using direct-write metal printing technologies to prototype turbine
blades for gas turbines, with a view to eventually using the technology for production.
Oil and Gas Industry

EOS have sold around 100 machines for manufacturing of dental crowns and bridges.
On an average, they are used to produce about 250 copings a day, but could do up to
450.
This equates to about 6.5 million copings a year in total on all systems in the field.
EOS believe 10 million copings are 3D printed each year, giving EOS a 2/3 market
share compared to other players in the industry.
Dental bridges and copings

Just earlier this year, Stryker announced the development of a state-of-the-art 3D
printing facility in late 2016.
The FDA has just given clearance to a 3D printed Posterior Lumbar Cage made from
a highly porous titanium material.
The material has been specifically designed for accommodating bone in-growth and
biologic fixation in the spine.
3D printing means the cages can be widely adapted in terms of widths, lengths,
heights, and angles, depending on a patient’s specific anatomy.
The cages feature as much open architecture as possible, enabling doctors to clearly
see progress through CT and X-ray scanning.
The 3D printed spinal cage is expected to be commercially released in the second
quarter of 2016.
Medical Implants

Electron Beam Melting (EBM)

• Blown powder offers bigger build volumes
and faster build speeds
• Industries like aerospace adopting 3D
printing in metal for the manufacture of
production parts
• Market for much cheaper and simpler metal
3D printers
• Small build volumes
• Slow build speeds
• Limited to one material
• Expensive machines
• Fine powders are explosive
• Good accuracy
• Printed objects are fully dense
• Higher build temperature than SLM
• Requires fewer support parts than SLM
Electron Beam Melting (EBM)

Adler Ortho is an Italian maker of hip and knee implants.
In 2006 they launched their first product made with Arcam’s EBM technology.
It’s possible to build more than 100 medical implants in an Arcam machine in a single
build cycle, which lasts about two days.
In April 2015, Arcam claimed their 3D printers had manufactured over 50,000
orthopaedic implants.
Orthopaedics

Metal powder is blown coaxially to the laser
beam which melts the particles on a base metal
to form a metallurgical bond when cooled.
This is a directed energy deposition technique.
Multi-axis robot allows material to be deposited
from any direction so the technology can be used
to repair high-value metal parts.
It can produce fully-dense objects from titanium,
aluminium, nickel, cobalt, stainless steels, tool
steels, copper, precious metals and alloys.
It is used in Aerospace, Military, and Oil and Gas
sectors.
Blown Powder

• SLM offers higher precision and fully dense
objects for lower machine prices
• Welding offers higher build speed and
larger volume
• Different powders could be blended to print
objects with graded materials
• Potential for much cheaper and simpler
blown-powder 3D printers
• Agricultural industry, power generation,
cutting implements, anti-corrosion coatings.
• Expensive machines from $560,000
• Slow build speeds up to 31mm3/s
• Powders are explosive and dangerous if
inhaled
• Large build volumes up to 4.7m3
• Can be used to repair objects
• Use free market, coarser metal powders
• Multi-material
• High powder deposition rates
• Mechanical properties equivalent or even
superior to wrought materials
Blown Powder SWOT Analysis

M-series printers from ExOne
Two-step process
Binder inkjetted into metal powder.
Resulting object buried in other powder and then fired in a furnace.
The original metal is not fully dense but can be infiltrated with bronze.
Metal + Binder

• SLM is cheaper, faster, more precise
and produces stronger metal objects
directly.
• Jewelry might benefit from this
process.
• Indirect process with extensive post-
processing
• Infused metal objects are weak
• Small build volumes up to 0.16m3.
• Expensive machines
• Fast build speeds
Metal + Binder SWOT Analysis

ExOne have qualified an extensive number of materials including: 420 Stainless Steel infiltrated
with Bronze; 316 Stainless Steel infiltrated with Bronze; Iron infiltrated with Bronze; Inconel Alloy
625; Bronze; Bonded Tungsten; and Glass.
ExOne, announced the addition of 6 new materials to their metals portfolio: Cobalt-Chrome,
Inconel Alloy 718, Iron-Chrome-Aluminum, 17-4 Stainless Steel, 316 Stainless Steel, and
Tungsten Carbide.
Iron-Chrome-Aluminum (FeCrAl): Iron-Chrome-Aluminum alloys are used to build electrical
furnaces, electrical ovens, home appliances, electrical heaters, and infrared settings. They have
even higher heat and corrosion resistance.
174 Stainless Steel and 316 Stainless Steel: In the automotive, medical, and general industry
markets, these alloys are used to produce surgical tools, metallic filters, pumps, impellers, and
structural automotive parts. These grades are known for being cost-effective, as well as having
excellent mechanical and corrosion resistance properties.
Tungsten Carbide (WC): With a melting point of 2770°C, Tungsten Carbide is used mainly in the
manufacturing of high wear-resistant abrasives, carbide cutting tools (knives, drills and circular
saws), and milling and turning tools used by metalworkers, woodworkers, miners, as well as the
petroleum and construction industries.
Powders for Metal + Binder

A cartesian robot holding a welding torch welds together welding wire into large metal objects
This is another directed energy deposition technique.
Large build volume, low precision parts from any metal which is available as weld wire, including
titanium, stainless steels, tantalum, cobalt alloys, and nickel alloys.
Many materials are available in standard sizes with well-understood microstructures and
properties.
Manufacturer and sale of welding wire is an established business and sales into additive
manufacturing represent a very small proportion of the revenue.
Automotive and aerospace industries to build very large prototypes and final production part.
Large build volumes but poor precision, so require post-processing. High strength, due to low
porosity. Concerns about fatigue strength.
Welding

• Blown powder offers better precision and
comparable build volumes for a similar
price
• Different wire feedstocks could be blended
to print objects with graded materials
• Market for much cheaper and simpler
welding-based 3D printers
• Oil & gas, automotive, shipping,
construction and mining industries could
also benefit from welding 3D printers
• Poor ~5mm accuracy
• Expensive machines from $1.5M
• Complexity, e.g. vacuum build environment
• Poor precision makes post-processing
necessary
• Large 3.5m3 build volume
• Fast build speeds up to 1,140mm3/s
• Cheap welding wire consumables
• Printed objects are fully dense
Welding SWOT Analysis

Sand + Binder
For Example Foundry Sand with furan, phenol, silicate or alkyd binder
Which printers use them? Ink-jetting
Which industries use them? What
are they used to produce?
Automotive and aerospace industries build moulds and cores for
sand casting, small market of artists.
Safety concerns Binders can be toxic
Properties Moulds and cores are incredibly fragile so cannot be transported
long distances. Precision is poor.

Proto-pasta Stainless Steel PLA is a dense material
that can be 3D printed using thermoplastic extrusion
like standard PLA.
It results in heavy prints that can be post-processed.
In an unfinished form, prints look like cast metal. They
can be left that way, or finished through a variety of
methods to achieve different results.
Proto-pasta Magnetic Iron PLA responds to magnets
and behaves similarly to pure iron, even to the point
of rusting.
Magnetism allows many practical applications.
It is marketed at home and education markets for
jewelry, costumes, props, figurines, crafting and
robots.
Stainless Steel PLA is more abrasive than standard
PLA, and can result in accelerated nozzle wear.
Proto-pasta Metallic PLA Filament

Japan’s Tanaka Precious Metals Group has succeeded in
the development and formation of platinum-based metallic
glass powder for use in Selective Laser Sintering
machines.
Heraeus are also developing a Zr metallic glass powder
for SLM.
Metallic glass is a type of amorphous metal that does not
have a crystalline structure like ordinary metals. It is
widely known for:
• high strength
• hardness
• low flexibility
• ultra-high corrosion resistance
• smooth surface finish
The most common method of manufacturing metallic
glass at present is casting, which requires an expensive
metal cast with high thermal conductivity due to the
required rapid cooling.
This could allow small scale production of products
requiring corrosion resistance such as medical materials,
and specialised components requiring heat resistance in
the automotive and aerospace industries.
Platinum-based Metallic Glass

North Carolina State University is researching 3D
printing with a gallium-indium alloy.
This is a mixture which remains liquid at room
temperature. But when it comes into contact with air, it
develops a thin skin that is strong enough to hold the
liquid’s shape.
When printed, the shapes can be stretched and
deformed. This technology could be used for micro-
circuits and wearable electronics.
Liquid metals have advantages in terms of applications,
but they are extremely challenging to work with.
Recent research addressed another important problem
with liquid metals. The gallium and indium alloy mix is
non-toxic.
However, this mixture will be about a hundred times as
expensive as thermoplastic filament.
Gallium-Indium Alloy

Market Share by Installed Base
3D Systems
Arcam
BeAM
Bright Laser Technology
Concept Laser
DMG Mori
EFESTO
EOS
ExOne
Huake 3D
Matsuura Machinery
Optomec
Realizer
Renishaw
Sciaky
Sisma/Trumpf
SLM Solutions
Wuhan Binhu

Forecast of Total Installed Base of 3D Metal
Printers
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Numberofinstalledunits
SLM EBM Blown Powder Metal + Binder Welding

Future of 3D Printing Metals
Technology
Trigger
Peak of Inflated
Expectations
Trough of
Disillusionment
Slope of Enlightenment
Plateau of
Productivity
Expectations
Time
Jewelry
Construction
Prototyping
Orthopaedics
Non-critical aerospace
Critical aerospace
Electronics

Challenges
Machines Materials
• Larger build volumes
• Increased build speed
• Greater precision
• Movement away from layered structures
• Parameter monitoring and control loop
• Reduced cost
• Energy efficiency
• Wider variety of materials properties
• Developing processing parameters for
each powder
Design Standards
• Simpler CAD software to make it
accessible
• Declarative CAD to use design freedom
to the full
• New design criteria
• Integration of design and manufacture
• Develop and implement international
standards
• Specified test programme
• Cooperation between suppliers and
users
• Many parameters are not yet understood
or controlled

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Rachel Gordon – r.gordon@IDTechEx.com

Opportunities in 3 d printing of metals 2016 2026

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