rhodium powder pressed melted

Ten-Year Forecast Predicts Metal 3D-Printing Boom

April 6, 2017
The market for metal additive manufacturing reached $950 million in 2016 and is expected to increase nearly 7-fold by 2026.

The third edition of SmarTech Publishing’s metal additive manufacturing (AM) market report predicts a massive boom for the metal 3D printing market over the next decade. The primary metal AM market, which encompasses systems and metal powder materials, is expected to rise from a high of $950 million at the end of 2016 to $6.6 billion by 2026.

Additive Manufacturing with Metal Powders 2017: An Opportunity Analysis and Ten-Year Forecast marks 2017 as a “pivotal year” during which the performance of AM metal parts in final designs will determine the market's trajectory for manufacturing. The report looks at major players and companies making significant investments in metal 3D printing such as GE, which expects to purchase 1000 metal AM systems over the next decade, accounting for 4% of the metal AM market.

It also highlights metal AM as one of the strongest areas of growth in the 3D printing industry which is predicted to have an economic impact of $40 billion by 2027, according to 3D Printing 2017-2027: Technologies, Markets, Players from IDTech Ex.

SmarTech’s metal AM report continues to discuss the outlook for major players and acquisitions made in 2016. It includes metrics on hardware unit sales and installments based on AM tech subgroups like electron beam powder bed fusion and metal binder jetting. Then it discusses available software, metal powder shipments by mass across eight alloy families, and growth by industry. It applies a forward-looking analysis of new metal AM processes expected to come to market in 2017 or 2018. 

At the Industrial Design & Engineering show, Cullen Hilkene, CEO of 3Diligent, will speak about the future of metal 3D printing and its relevance to several industries. His presentation will cover major printing technologies for working with new materials.

ID&E will take place in Cleveland, Ohio May 8-10 at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland.  Hilkene will give his speech on Tuesday, 05/09/2017: 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm as part of the Manufacturing Practices track. 

About the Author

Leah Scully | Associate Content Producer

Leah Scully is a graduate of The College of New Jersey. She has a BS degree in Biomedical Engineering with a mechanical specialization.  Leah is responsible for Machine Design’s news items that cover industry trends, research, and applied science and engineering, along with product galleries. Visit her on Facebook, or view her profile on LinkedIn

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