In its very early days of fostering, 3D printing was utilized by hobbyists to publish versions of art and porcelain figurines or by suppliers for prototyping. However, technology has come a long way ever since. Today, 3D printing can produce end-use parts for numerous industries, including the aerospace, automotive, medical, consumer goods, and jewelry industries.
3D Printing in Different Industries
1. Aerospace
The aerospace industry was among the first big markets to purchase 3D printing technology. Additive Manufacturing has been used in aerospace, considering that as early as the 1980s. The technology provides an apparent benefit in the market, as it can generate parts that are much more resilient and lightweight contrasted to those made using typical approaches.
2. Automotive
Formerly, 3D printing was just used for prototyping in the vehicle sector to check their kind and fit. 2013 marked a vital moment in 3D printing background as the first 3D published vehicle Urbee was produced. Given the development of Urbee, automobile manufacturers have known that modern technology can be used to do much more than prototyping, including idea designs, pre-production tasting, tooling, and tailored parts.
3. Medical
In the medical field, Additive Production has four main applications. They are:
- Developing tissues and also organoids
- Surgical devices
- Patient-specific medical models
- Customized prosthetics
Other than these usages, innovation has stepped up in the clinical sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. The unprecedented situation has created numerous nations to plunge into an absence of clinical supplies. Because of its addictive nature, 3D printing has been able to help with speedy feedback in emergencies. During the pandemic, additive manufacturing is used to create medical products such as clinical devices, personal safety tools (PPE), and more.
4. Consumer Goods
3D printing is suitable for prototypes and idea versions in the consumer goods sector. Modern technology decreases time to market and allows developers to have an excellent idea of exactly how their product will resemble before sending it in for automation. Full-color 3D printers are generally used to create visually appealing items. In particular, Additive Production has been widely adopted for prototyping showing off goods, customer electronic devices, and playthings.
5. Jewelry
3D printing has become an asset to fashion jewelry manufacturing in recent years. 3D printing is now used to streamline the production cycle by producing patterns for investment casting and printing fashion jewelry straight.
CAD design of precious jewelry allows the production of regular, balanced pieces without the monotony and irregularity of wax sculpting. Using 3D printed financial investment spreading patterns indicates that makers can decrease the danger of mistakes that need costly layout versions. Numerous manufacturers use SLA casting patterns for prototyping before going into complete, traditionally-based financial investment casting because of the inexpensive. Nevertheless, SLA patterns can also be progressively used as exclusive production patterns.
Due to its addictive nature, precious jewelry layouts can have more intricate geometries than those developed utilizing tooling. Furthermore, the item can be lighter weight yet much more practical. Numerous styles can also be published in the same batch, making it optimal for low volume production. This is specifically useful in precious jewelry as multiple layouts are customized, and clients want one piece.