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Arconic:3D-Printing The Next Five Years by John_E._Barnes

No mention of any specific additive technology.

At 3dprintingindustry.com - 3D Printing The Next Five Years by John E. Barnes, Arconic - April 17, 2017

The introduction:

This is a guest post in our series looking at the future of 3D Printing. To celebrate 5 years of reporting on the 3D printing industry, we’ve invited industry leaders and 3D printing experts to give us their perspective and predictions for the next 5 years and insight into trends in additive manufacturing.

John E. Barnes is the Vice President of Arconic Titanium & Engineered Products, Advanced Manufacturing. Valued at almost $12 billion, Arconic (NYSE:ARNC) produces advanced materials – including those for the 3D printing industry – and works with industry transforming technologies.



Making the Future Take Flight by John E. Barnes

Albert Einstein was quoted as saying, “When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.”

The next five years for 3D printing is going to be like Einstein’s first example—relatively a blur. Analysts forecast the global aero 3D printing market will grow at an astounding 55% CAGR during the period 2016-2020 (TechNavio). And while it used to be said that the only people making money in 3D printing were the conference organizers, conference trends are another area where we can see AM heating up. For example, attendance at this year’s Additive Manufacturing User Group (AMUG) doubled from just two years ago and registration closed a week before the event. In 2017, RAPID is expected to be the biggest AM show ever, and Formnext will expand to a fourth day and double its exhibition space.

The incredible growth in AM is being driven by two factors. Industry’s desire to move to more affordable, lighter and multifunctional components continues to push one end of the additive manufacturing (AM) world. Simultaneously others are working to make the process more robust and repeatable. These are hugely positive signs that the technology is making an impact across multiple fields.

Where is AM headed?

At Arconic we are focused on the industrialization of metal 3D printing for the large-scale production of aerospace parts. Primarily, this means tuning the equipment and process parameters to produce the same part, the same way, thousands of times. We of course will balance the equation with deep materials know-how and decades of aerospace qualification experience. We see the digital component of the technology expanding as well. This will include everything from advanced analytical methods and engineering to create robust build files in less time, to cybersecurity protection of IP, to anti-counterfeiting and enhanced quality control measures. We foresee AM equipment becoming increasingly more automated, more productive and more integrated in a factory as a system of systems.

3D printing overall will become more integrated. Design teams will accelerate their knowledge which will in turn push the envelope of lightweight and multifunctional design. For example, a student graduating high school this year may have already designed a 3d printed part during a class at school. As people integrate, communicate and collaborate, we will see more industrial integration as well. In addition to prototyping and direct 3D printing, hybrid AM processes, such as Arconic’s proprietary Ampliforge™ process, will enable greater efficiency by combining additive processes with legacy processes such as forging, for better and more predictable results. The future is taking off now.