Less time, fewer resources. In today’s world where margins are being pinched ever more, energy and materials costs show no sign of abating and demand increases for quicker turnaround times amid ongoing supply chain disruption, these four words have become the holy grail of manufacturing. Luke Smoothy, 3D printing expert at London-based manufacturing business Get It Made, looks at why additive manufacturing holds the answers.   

Amid the growing need for lightweight metal components, 3D printing technology has also demonstrated the potential to disrupt previous methods used for the manufacture of products from different materials, such as metal matrix composites (MMC) – composite materials that consist of metal and another metal or ceramic and organic compounds – enabling parts to be produced quicker and cost-effectively using less material. Advances in 3D printer technology have seen the development of a metal and ceramic composite specifically for metal 3D printing, to produce strong, lightweight, heat-resistant metal parts such as aerospace or car engine components. The range of MMCs that can be processed using AM technology, although already quite extensive, will only continue to expand as the appeal of 3D printing is realised across more sectors and it gradually becomes the method of choice for MMC processing.

In industries such as aerospace, automotive and motorsports, where even one kilogram saved can result in significant cost savings, lightweighting is a crucial factor as it improves performance, fuel efficiency and handling and offers strength and stiffness.

According to a study by Essentium, 81 per cent of aerospace manufacturing companies have doubled their use of large-scale additive manufacturing since late 2021. Little wonder that the defence and aerospace 3D printing market is expected to reach £4.48 billion by 2026, as more aerospace companies grasp the full potential brought by additive manufacturing.

GE Aerospace harnessed the benefits of 3D printing to create its new Catalyst aircraft engines. Taking a design that originally required 855 engine components, GE reduced it down to 12 titanium 3D-printed parts while retaining the same functionality of older models. This not only significantly lowered production costs but also the weight, to cut emissions. Thanks to AM technology, the improvements helped to cut overall weight by five per cent and improve brake-specific fuel consumption by one per cent.

AM is also gaining the upper hand in healthcare applications for medical devices and tools, in an industry that was an early adaptor. In particular, the dental industry has been a leader in bringing AM to elevate the patient experience, with the recent progress in 3D materials improving dental practice capabilities over the last decade. Dentures is a prime example of where 3D printing has shown potential and will increasingly become more popular as the consumer market grows. Temporary, highly accurate, aesthetic 3D printed crowns and bridges can also be made using resin 3D printing, allowing for more cost-effective and faster production than the traditional milling processes. Continual advancements in technology will see increased durability in dental resins over the coming years so that 3D printed crowns and bridges become a more permanent solution and a replacement for zirconia, the most common material currently used.

In medical applications, the potential for 3D printing use knows no bounds. Surgical prep, anatomic modelling and highly specialised devices are all merely the tip of the iceberg. As well as enableing solutions for a wide spectrum of needs ranging from personal protection equipment to medical devices and isolation wards, there are also 3D printed prosthetics that are already starting to gain wide acceptance. Bioprinting – the 3D printing of tissues and organs – will become commonplace as the technology matures, carrying with it the power to save lives. The University of Birmingham is leading its development through the creation of a new 3D bioprinting process to speed up and simplify the creation of tissue-compatible artificially engineered organs, making wider adoption more likely. Another medical ‘first’ using 3D bioprinting technology is the development of a new method of immunotherapy for treating cancer using natural killer cells (NK cells).

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