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THE GLOBAL MARKET FOR AM MACHINES, MATERIALS AND PROCESSES IS PROJECTED TO REACH $19,500
MILLION IN 2023
Additive manufacturing (AM) has emerged over the
past 20 years as a technology that is revolutionizing the manufacturing
industry with its ability to turn digital data into physical parts. The
distinct ability to manufacture complex shapes and structures has already made
it invaluable for the production of prototypes such as engine manifolds for the
automotive industry and tools such as investment casting molds in the jewelry
and aeronautical industries.
AM
offers the potential for developing complex, customized products that are
prohibitively expensive to produce in current manufacturing settings. AM is
poised to bring about a revolution in the way products are designed,
manufactured, and distributed to end users. The technology has gained
significant academic as well as industry interest due to its ability to create
complex geometries with customizable material properties. AM has also inspired
the development of the “maker” movement by democratizing design and
manufacturing.
According to the iRAP report titled ‘Additive Manufacturing – Machines,
Materials, Technologies, Applications, New Developments, Industry Structure and
Global Markets’, the 2018 market for AM
machines, materials and processes is projected to reach $6 billion in 2018. It
is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24.5% from 2018
through 2023, to reach $19.5 billion in 2023.
In
its early years, AM was mostly applied in fabricating conceptual and functional
prototypes. These prototypes were most commonly used as communication and
inspection tools. Producing several physical models in a short time directly
from computer solid models helped to shorten the production development
timeline.
Rapid
Prototyping (RP) remains the dominant application of polymer AM processes and
is well established in the market. Many of the aforementioned technologies are
limited to RP, as they do not allow for processing of common engineering
materials (polymers, metals, ceramics and composites thereof) with sufficient
mechanical properties.
Besides
RP, AM for rapid tooling also makes up some of the current AM activity
involving the fabrication of molds and dies. For manufacturing applications of
AM processes, notable areas of success include the production of medical
devices such as dental crowns and hearing aids.
Rapid tooling also has been applied to the production of consumer
products, including high-value lighting goods and electronics. The aerospace
sector also has found a number of applications, often driven by the
possibilities of improving buy-to-fly ratios and reducing the weight of
components through design optimization. Other areas benefitting from rapid
tooling include automotive, jewelry, architecture and defense applications.
Recognizing the new emerging technologies and applications, iRAP has conducted a detailed study and
updated technology developments and markets. This report identifies and
evaluates new markets and new
product developments that show potential growth for AM machines,
materials and processes.
The
study provides the most complete accounting of the current market and future
growth in AM machines, materials and processes in North America, Europe, Japan,
China and the rest of the world. It provides the most thorough and up-to-date
assessment that can be found anywhere on the subject. The study also provides
extensive quantification of the many important facets of market developments in
emerging markets. This quantification, in turn, contributes to the
determination of what kind of strategic responses suppliers might adopt in
order to compete in these dynamic markets.
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