3D Printer in India & Global Market, Its Technologies & Applications

3D printing is a manufacturing technique for creating three-dimensional items from a digital file. 3D printing is used to create objects through additive processes of sequential layers of material.          

Indian 3D Printer Market-

The Indian 3D Printer Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of around 25% during the forecast period, i.e., 2022-27. The growth of the market is driven primarily by the rapidly increasing inclination of industries like construction, automotive, medical, aerospace, & art, among others, on utilizing the benefits & capabilities of 3D printers, i.e., surging their demand for designing, prototyping, and developing & customizing products in the shortest time with ease. 

Besides, since 3D printers can create almost anything that fits within its build volume, their demand is swiftly burgeoning across India & instigating the leading players in the market to expand their production & distribution capacities, thereby driving the market.

Moreover, with a greater inclination of industries toward utilizing technologically advanced & upgraded equipment for manufacturing different products, several research & development activities associated with 3D printers are being conducted by the leading market players. 

Furthermore, since the government is projecting favourable policies for establishing new industries, organizations, & start-ups in the country, the demand for 3D printers across multiple end-users is likely to propel and positively influence the overall market growth in the coming years.

Global 3D Printer Market-

The global 3D printing market size was valued at USD 13.84 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.8% from 2022 to 2030. Globally, 2.2 million units of 3D printers were shipped in 2021 and the shipments are expected to reach 21.5 million units by 2030. Research and development in sectors such as healthcare and aerospace will fuel market growth over the next decade.

Currently, North America holds the largest share of the global market in terms of revenue (30%), which is attributed to the extensive adoption of 3D printing in this region. Additionally, the US and Canada have been some of the most important early adopters of the technology. The second largest regional market is Europe.

Asia Pacific, however, is expecting the highest CAGR over the next decade, which is attributed to the rapid adoption of 3D printing in the region, particularly in manufacturing. Additionally, Asia Pacific is emerging as a hub of manufacturing for healthcare and automotive.

Current industry key players include Stratasys, Ltd., Materialis, EnvisionTec, Inc., 3D Systems, Inc., GE Additive, Autodesk Inc., Made In Space, Canon Inc., and Voxeljet AG.

3D Printing Technologies-

There are three broad types of 3D printing technology; sintering, melting, and stereolithography.

• Sintering is a technology where the material is heated, but not to the point of melting, to create high resolution items. Metal powder is used for direct metal laser sintering while thermoplastic powders are used for selective laser sintering.
• Melting methods of 3D printing include powder bed fusion, electron beam melting and direct energy deposition, these use lasers, electric arcs or electron beams to print objects by melting the materials together at high temperatures.
• Stereolithography utilises photopolymerization to create parts. This technology uses the correct light source to interact with the material in a selective manner to cure and solidify a cross section of the object in thin layers.

THE TOP FIVE 3D PRINTING APPLICATIONS-

3D printing applications are constantly being developed but the applications detailed below have recently risen in popularity.

1. EDUCATION

Every day, more schools are incorporating 3D printing methods into their curriculums. 3D printing bridges the gap from ideas and images on a page or screen, allowing for the creation of those ideas/images in the physical, 3-dimensional world. 3D printers are now commonly found in classrooms and public libraries. Universities have 3D printers available for students to use in classes and projects. Students learn about a variety of 3D printing applications by exploring design, engineering, and architectural principles. They are able to duplicate museum items like fossils and historical artifacts to study in the classroom without the possibility of damaging delicate collections. They are able to gain a new, 3-dimensional perspective on topographic maps.

Graphic design students can easily construct models with complex working parts. Students in the sciences can create and study cross-sections of organs in the human body as well as other biological specimens. Chemistry students can make 3D models of molecules and chemical compounds.

2. PROTOTYPING AND MANUFACTURING

3D printing was first developed as a means for faster prototyping. With a traditional injection-molded prototype it might cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take weeks to produce a single mold. That is highly impractical if you are trying to improve on design with each new iteration. 3D printing technology greatly reduces the lead times required in traditional manufacturing, allowing a prototype to be fabricated in hours, not weeks, and at a fraction of the cost. The automotive and aerospace industries are just 2 industries involved in manufacturing taking advantage of advances in 3D printing technologies.

With cloud computing technologies so prevalent today, there are now companies that offer cloud-based additive manufacturing services where consumers can build parts and objects remotely without the expense of purchasing a 3D printer.3D printing technologies have created what is called ‘agile tooling’. This is where tooling used in manufacturing processes such as hydro-forming, stamping, and injection molding is designed by modular means, enabling quick prototyping and responses to tooling and fixture needs.

3. MEDICINE

In the last several years there have been many 3D printing applications in the world of medicine. They range from bioprinting – where biomaterials such as cells and growth factors are combined to create tissue-like structures imitating their natural counterparts – to medical devices like prosthetics.3D printing applications in medicine are also used for producing metal orthopedic implants. Due to 3D printing’s capabilities for creating porous surfaces, these types of implants more easily integrate with the patient’s own natural bones, allowing them to grow into the implant.

Bioprinting allows for the 3D printing of artificial organs, helping solve organ failure issues in patients faster, important to both the patient and his/her family and to healthcare systems.3D printed tissues have been developed for pharmaceutical testing as a cost-effective and ethical means of helping identify the side effects of drugs and validating safe dosages.

4. CONSTRUCTION

3D printing applications that are used in construction include extrusion (concrete/cement, wax, foam, and polymers), powder bonding (polymer bond, reactive bond, sintering) and additive welding. 3D printing in construction has a wide array of applications in the private, commercial, industrial and public sectors. Advantages of these technologies include allowing more complexity and accuracy, faster construction, lower labour costs, greater functional integration, and less waste.3D printing is used to produce architectural scale models, enabling a faster turnaround of the scale model and increasing the overall speed and complexity of the objects produced.

5. ART AND JEWELRY

An unexpected application of 3D printing technology has been in the world of art and jewelry making.3D printers allow jewelry makers to experiment with designs not possible with traditional jewelry making methods. 3D printing also allows the production of individual, unique pieces of jewelry or customized pieces at a much lower cost, using 3D printing materials such as PLA (polylactic acid filament), gold or platinum.3D printing technology has served to inspire artists all over the world. With metal 3D printing especially, artists now create beautiful intricate pieces.

Just a few examples of 3D printing technology in the arts include Banksy, the mysterious and famous British street artist, whose works’ have been rendered from 2D to 3D using powder binding 3D printing.The Dutch artist Oliver van Herpt creates ceramic vases with 3D printing. The Prado Museum organized an exhibition of paintings by well-known artists rendered in 3D. The purpose was to allow visually impaired people to feel these works that were previously inaccessible to them.

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