Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, an indirect subsidiary of US digital manufacturer Stratasys (Eden Prairie, Minnesota; www.stratasys.com), has released an industry report highlighting the current and future trends for 3D printing. The report, “3D Printing’s Imminent Impact on Manufacturing”, is based on an independent survey of 700 designers, engineers and executives, 40% of whom work for companies with a revenue of more than USD 50m (EUR 43m).

The majority of respondents, representing the aerospace, automotive, consumer and medical sectors, strongly believe that more end-use parts will be designed specifically for additive manufacturing (AM) in the future. The report said AM can expect growth spurts in tooling, trial and end-use production applications by 2018.

While metal is at the top of the list of more materials to be developed for AM, high-temperature plastics are also in high demand for future use, as well as rubber-like materials. The aerospace and automotive industries are more interested in carbon fibre while the medical sector is very interested in bio-based materials.

The report, which was carried out in April this year, noted that cost remains a notable barrier to implementation and said the 3D printing industry must move to promote its overall business value rather than the technical benefits.

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Stratasys' "Trend Forecast: 3D Printing's Imminent Impact on Manufacturing" as a PDF file