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The industrial additive manufacturing of metals and polymers is undergoing rapid development. The AMPOWER Report for 2023 assumes that the global market will grow by an average of 17.7% per year.

Potential, future, forecasts

The industrial additive manufacturing of metals and polymers is undergoing rapid development. The AMPOWER Report for 2023 assumes that the global market will grow by an average of 17.7 percent per year.

Plastics are still ahead: the global market volume for additive 3D printing with polymers was EUR 6.5 billion in 2022, more than twice as large as metal printing at EUR 3 billion
Metal is catching up rapidly: While the market growth for polymers will average 13 percent by 2027, the growth forecast for metal 3D printing is almost 30 percent per year.

One of the reasons for this is that the further development of metal-based 3D printing means that more sophisticated metal applications can now also be efficiently additively manufactured. Important innovations in the field of support structure-free laser melting are approaching and will significantly reduce costs. This will open up new economic applications, for example in medical technology or mechanical engineering.

Source: additive-manufacturing-report.com

The market for additive manufacturing is driven by several factors:

the increasing need for faster and more efficient production,
more efficient use of resources through less material consumption and more recycling
and the ability to manufacture complex and customized products.

We are ready for these dynamic future developments and will be happy to provide you with advice and assistance in implementing your 3D printing tasks.

Excellent

We receive the TOP 100 seal for innovative strength

Only particularly innovative medium-sized companies are honored with this award. The science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar will personally congratulate us on this success at the award ceremony in Weimar on June 28 of this year. Biedenkopf, February 2024 - On behalf of compamedia, the organizer of the TOP 100 competition, innovation researcher Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke from the Vienna University of Economics and Business and his team examined the innovative strength of numerous companies on the basis of more than 100 criteria from five categories: Innovation-promoting top management, innovation climate, innovative processes and organization, external orientation and open innovation as well as innovation success. "Are companies able to create new products, new services, new processes and new business models? Are these achievements just coincidences or the result of a structured, targeted approach? These are the questions we examine at TOP 100," says Nikolaus Franke, explaining his approach to the competition. It is also important how and whether innovations and product improvements have been able to establish themselves on the market (details of the test criteria can be found at www.top100.de/pruefkriterien).

New materials in 3D printing

New materials

PA 613

PA 613 is a thermoplastic polyamide powder that FKM is using for the first time in SLS technology. The material is an outstanding development that combines the advantages of the proven plastics PA 6 and PA 12 and gets the best out of both. The surface resolution and attention to detail are excellent - ideal for beautiful surfaces in series production. It is characterized by higher strength and rigidity. PA 613 is also resistant to moisture and chemicals and retains its shape and dimensions even at higher temperatures.

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New materials

PEKK 100

The high-performance polymer based on an unfilled PEKK convinces in tests. It has a higher elongation at break and impact strength while maintaining its high tensile strength than the carbon fiber-filled material HT-23, and is particularly impressive at high operating temperatures in the range of 80-249 °C. PEKK 100 therefore has similar properties to injection-molded 35% glass fiber-filled polyamide 6 and is therefore ideal as a replacement for small series applications, especially in the automotive industry.

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Fields of application by industry

Industrial 3D printing has developed enormously in recent years and enabled innovations in the following sectors, among others:

Automotive industry

3D printing of prototypes (rapid prototyping), production of spare parts on-demand and rapid tooling (3D production of tools)

Aerospace

3D printing of complex parts, lightweight components and rocket engines that are difficult to produce using conventional manufacturing processes

Medical technology

3D printing of customized prostheses, orthoses, implants, dentures and surgical instruments#

Industry

3D printing of complex components, prototypes of electronic components and housings, rapid tooling (tools and devices using 3D printing)

Sport and lifestyle

3D printing of sports equipment such as shin guards, helmets, shoes and rackets as well as spectacle frames with personalized fitting and individual design

FKM is your high-end 3D printing service provider

for ready-to-install parts made of plastics, filled polymers or metal.

From materials consulting and design optimization to joint project co-engineering, we are our customers’ experts and partners for tricky tasks. With our complete after-print service consisting of testing technology with IATF certification and a range of surface technology with various finishing processes, we have been offering 3D printing services as a complete solution for almost 30 years – from a single source, with a lot of understanding.