Additive manufacturing to grow 19.5% globally in 2021
There is a strong industrialization signal for 3D printing- The amount of polymer powder (such as nylon, TPU, etc.) used has surpassed photosensitive resin materials for the first time in more than 30 years. That means 3D printing technology has begun to develop from prototype verification applications to production-level applications, and it is getting better.
2022.3.17, the annual 3D printing industry report 《Wohlers Report 2022》has been released.
From this year's research: The additive manufacturing industry will grow by 19.5% in 2021, which is higher than the 7.5% growth in 2020. That is mainly due to the global recovery in the post-COVID-19 pandemic.
Terry Wohlers said " as expected, the 3D printing industry is back on track, with growth spanning aerospace, healthcare, automotive, consumer goods, energy, and other sectors,"
According to the 2022 report, as the 3D printing field matures, more and more companies are using 3D printing technology for production applications.
Historically, the main application of additive manufacturing has been in functional prototyping. One sign of this growth, Wohlers noted, is a 43.3% increase in polymer powder consumption throughout 2021, which has now overtaken photopolymer resins as the most used 3D printing material.
A few years ago, only had SLS 3D printing resin materials were used for prototype verification; since 2020, nylon powder 3D printers (mainly SLS, MJF technology) have been introduced in large numbers to produce functional parts. At the same time, the shipments of polymer powder 3D printers from several brands such as HP MJF, Farsoon SLS, and Formlabs SLS showed a high growth trend.
Since the birth of 3D printing more than 30 years ago, its technical level has developed rapidly. In 2020, the market size has reached nearly 13 billion US dollars. It is predicted that the market growth rate in the next five years will exceed 20%, and there is a lot of room for development.