Metal 3D Printing Technology Report
An engineer’s guide to understanding the state of the art in metal 3D Printing
Understand the Future of Metal 3D Printing
The Metal 3D Printing Technology Report is your essential guide to the latest advances, applications, and real-world insights into additive manufacturing with metal. Packed with detailed case studies, practical information, and interviews with industry leaders, this report reveals how metal 3D printing is transforming industries and pushing the boundaries of manufacturing.
Why Read This Report?
The 3D printing industry is evolving quickly and staying updated on cutting-edge manufacturing methods is key. This report not only covers the technical processes behind metal laser powder bed fusion, directed energy deposition, metal extrusion, and binder jetting but also delves into:
- Materials & Post-Processing – Understand the materials powering metal AM and essential post-processing steps for quality assurance.
- Industry Applications – See how metal 3D printing is reshaping aerospace, medical, and automotive industries with specific use cases.
- Future Trends – Get a glimpse of emerging trends, sustainability practices, and the exciting potential of metal AM through case studies and industry insights.
Whether you're new to metal AM or looking to expand your knowledge, this report offers valuable insights to help you make informed decisions and stay ahead.
Get Inspired by Real-World Successes
Discover how leading companies are using metal 3D printing to overcome complex manufacturing challenges, streamline production, and unlock new possibilities.
Report introduction
Metal 3D printing, also known as metal additive manufacturing (AM), is a production technology whose origins date back just three decades to 1994, when German company EOS GmbH launched a system based on its Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) technology1. Despite this short history (particularly compared to metal casting, which dates back thousands of years), metal AM has progressed significantly since its earliest iteration, with various new types of processes being developed, new materials and applications being validated, and consistent market growth. This growth—and the continued proliferation of metal AM technologies—is evident by simply looking at the number of metal AM systems sold from year to year. From 2022 to 2023, for instance, the shipment of metal AM systems grew by 24.4% (from 3,049 systems in 2022 to 3,793 systems in 2023). To put it into perspective, just ten years ago, the number of metal AM systems sold was barely over 5002.
Amongst 3D printing users more generally, there has also been an increase in metal AM adoption, from 39% in 2019 to over 90% in 20233. This indicates how the technology has matured and offers a viable production method for a growing number of prototyping and production applications that benefit from the technology’s propensity for complex designs and small-volume production. While challenges to the broader adoption and implementation of metal AM still exist, efforts are being made across the industry to address these barriers through hardware, software, and materials advances as well as industry-wide cooperations.
This report delves into the metal 3D printing market, whose estimated global value in 2023 was as high as $7.73 billion4, for a full spectrum view of the state of the industry. This report includes insights into the leading metal 3D printing processes available on the market today as well as metal AM materials. The report also highlights other vital steps in the AM process chain, including design and post-processing. The fifth chapter of the report covers metal 3D printing applications, with a focus on the three leading adopter industries: aerospace, medical, and automotive. The next two chapters comprise an analysis of the challenges and limitations facing the metal AM industry as well as the key trends that indicate where the future of the industry is headed. The report’s final chapter presents exclusive insights from three companies active in the metal AM space: manufacturing service Xometry, FFF 3D printing company UltiMaker, and software specialist Aibuild.
Tess Boissonneault
Report Editor-in-Chief
Read an excerpt from the chapters here:
Introduction Chapter
The Metal 3D Printing Technology Report is your essential guide to the latest advances, applications, and real-world insights into additive manufacturing with metal.
In the first chapter of our new report, we examine the dominant methods of metal 3D printing—metal laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), directed energy deposition (DED), metal extrusion, and binder jetting—as well as other still-emerging or more niche processes.
The metal additive manufacturing market features various feedstock types, with powder being the dominant choice for LPBF, some DED methods, and binder jetting. Metal wire and bound metal filament are also used in specific technologies.
In this chapter, we separate metal AM post-processing into four categories: debinding and sintering, CNC machining and milling, heat treatment, and quality assurance.
Metal 3D printing offers significant design opportunities with its high geometrical freedom, but it requires careful design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) to address equipment and material constraints, a process supported by DfAM and 3D printing simulation tools in most major CAD software.
This chapter of the report will lay out and examine the various applications of metal additive manufacturing, with a particular focus on end-use applications in the dominant metal AM adoption industries.
In this chapter, we will explore some of the challenges facing metal additive manufacturing, how they are impacting the growth of the industry, and how metal AM industry players are addressing the issues.
In this chapter, we present three exclusive interviews with industry experts from Xometry, UltiMaker, and Aibuild, key sponsors of the Wevolver Metal 3D Printing Technology Report.
Acknowledgements:
Thank you to contributing author Benedict O’Neill.
Huge gratitude to the experts at UltiMaker, Xometry and AIBuild with who we consulted with on the texts.
References:
1. Singh A, Singh H. Metal additive manufacturing: from history to applications. InInnovations in Additive Manufacturing 2022 Jan 31 (pp. 3-32). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
2. Wohlers Report 2024 [Internet]. Wohlers Associates; 2024. Available from: https://wohlersassociates.com/product/wr2024/
3. Jabil Unveils Findings of Global Survey on 3D Printing Technology Trends [Internet]. Jabil; July 27, 2023. Available from: https://investors.jabil.com/news/news-details/2023/Jabil-Unveils-Findings-of-Global-Survey-on-3D-Printing-Technology-Trends/default.aspx
4. Metal 3D Printing Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Technology, By Software, By Component (Hardware, Software, and Services), By Application, By Printing Type, By Vertical, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2024 - 2030 [Internet]. Grandview Research; 2024. Available from: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/metal-3d-printing-market