Page 40 - Plastics News - January 2024

FEATURE

3D Printing Trends to Watch in 2024

manufacturing.
So how will 2024 move the needle?
What will be ahead for 3D printing?
Complexity is free
Often phrased as “complexity is free,”
one of the major selling points of 3D
printing is the removal of traditional
manufacturing constraints in terms of
design/geometric complexity. New
forms and shapes can be created in a
single build that is only possible in the
layer-by-layer processes of 3D print-
ing — no molds, no milling.
Design for additive manufacturing
(DfAM) is already a rising discipline
in which CAD creations are made
specifically for the given 3D-printing
technology chosen to best leverage
• Freedom of design as a scal- promises and uncertainty in industry its production capabilities. Whether
able production reality is the way restructuring. a powder bed fusion (PBF) or fused
ahead for 2024 filament fabrication (FFF) process is
The single greatest trend ahead — used will impact how a design must be
• In additive manufacturing, com- and, granted, this isn’t the first time made, from supports to post-process-
panies like HP are focusing keen- we as an industry have hopefully put ing to final product. This isn’t where
ly on sustainability initiatives this on our New Year’s bingo cards the news is.
— is that the promises of AM will be
• More end-use applications — fi- Freedom of design as a scalable pro-
nal products, bridge production, fulfilled. duction reality is the way ahead for
and spare parts availability — will Those promises are many and tend to 2024.
come to market boil down to a few big-picture capa- The thread tying together the New
Sometimes a New Year promises “out bilities: Year’s promises in AM is production.
with the old, in with the new.” In 3D • Freedom from design constraints Complex prototypes are a current re-
printing, though, that often translates (i.e., “complexity is free”); ality, already cutting down on design
to out with the old promises, in with • Less waste (sustainability); cycle time. When it comes to mass
the fulfillment of potential. Additive manufacturing, though, AM has long
manufacturing (AM) has been an in- • Faster prototyping-to-end-prod- been losing the race.
dustry full of promise, with its base uct (faster time-to-market);
3D-printing technologies compared • Localized production (on-de- While AM is not currently poised to
more often to sci-fi tropes like Rep- mand). unseat injection molding for mass
licators than recognized as manufac- production, end-use production in
turing-grade technology. It could just Others often make headlines, but targeted arenas is on the rise. Com-
be that, finally, 2024 is the year we those are some of the highest-profile plex parts in demanding industries
see more realization and fewer sci-fi promises. In turn, they have become like aerospace, defense, and auto-
comparisons. some of the highest-profile disap- motive are already being created.
pointments as they have largely re- Parts are in the skies on aircraft, as
The biggest trends we can predict mained unfulfilled in terms of mass well as in space on the International
for 2024 in 3D printing are realizable

40 PLASTICS NEWSASTICS NEWS January 2024
40 PL