Global Aerospace 3D Printing Market Report and Forecast 2024-2032

Global Aerospace 3D Printing Market Outlook

The global aerospace 3D printing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22.0% during the period 2024-2032. North America, Europe and Asia are expected to be key markets.

Global Market Likely to be Driven by Uses in Aerospace Applications

The Aerospace and Defence (A&D) industry adopted 3D printing very early and contributes heavily to its development. While some aerospace companies began using the technology back in the 1980s, the following decades witnessed a significant increase in the adoption of 3D printing. 3D printing is employed in all phases of the design workflow for applications in the aerospace industry. For example, in design communication; designs in the aerospace industry usually start as concept models displaying an aircraft component. These are generally also regularly employed for aerodynamic testing – an activity of vital importance in the aerospace domain. SLA and Material Jetting are employed to devise smooth, high-detail, scale models of aerospace designs.

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Prototyping employing 3D printing is a common practice in the aerospace industry. From a full-size landing gear enclosure printed quickly with low-cost FDM, to a high-detail, full-colour control board concept model, there exists a 3D printing process fit for every prototyping need. Engineering materials for 3D printing also enable full testing and validation of prototype performance.

3D Printing has Significant Use in the Manufacturing of Low-cost Rapid Tooling

3D printing has been significantly disruptive and valuable in the production of low-cost rapid tooling for injection moulding, thermoforming and jigs and fixtures. In the aerospace industry, this enables tooling to be quickly produced at lower cost and then employed to manufacture low to medium runs of parts. Such applications are expected to boost the global aerospace 3D printing market.

Considering that production volumes in the aerospace industry are usually large (over seventy thousand parts per year) 3D printing has been extensively employed as a prototyping solution rather than in the production of end parts. With improvements in the size and printing speed of industrial printers and the materials now available, 3D printing has emerged as a viable option for several medium-sized production runs, especially for high-end interior build-outs. 3D printing technologies are particularly impactful, especially to the aerospace industry when the cost of very intricate and unique components can be justified by a significant improvement in aircraft performance. Common 3D printing use-cases in aerospace include jigs and fixtures, surrogates, mounting brackets, and high-detail visual prototypes.

3D printing is Capable of Producing Features that Decrease Weight and Enhance Performance

Aerospace applications employ sophisticated engineering materials and intricate geometries to decrease weight and enhance performance. Aerospace parts frequently include internal channels for internal features, conformal cooling, thin walls and complex curved surfaces. 3D printing is capable of producing such features and enables the construction of intricate, lightweight and highly stable structures. Such benefits of 3D printing are likely to boost the global aerospace 3D printing market. High degree of design freedom allows topological optimization of the parts and the integration of functional features into a single element. Further, 3D printing technologies like SLS, DMSL/SLM and Binder Jetting enable small batch production at reasonable unit costs.

Surface finish is vital to the aerospace industry. 3D printing parts can be post-processed to a achieve a very high degree of surface finish.

Some 3D printing processes include SLS, SLA, SLA & Material Jetting, DMLS/SLM, Material Jetting, and Material Jetting & SLA; materials used for aerospace applications include Glass-filled Nylon, Standard Resin, Nylon 12, Standard Resin, Castable Resin or Wax, Titanium or Aluminium.

Adoption of 3D Printing by Leading Companies Likely to Boost Market Growth

Airbus has become a major user of additive manufacturing in the aerospace industry. Airbus installed the first titanium 3D-printed component for a serial production aircraft, and ever since,  more intricate 3D-printed parts have been fitted in its aircraft. For example, Airbus A350 XWB carries over 1,000 3D printed parts; Airbus partnered with Swiss OEM Liebherr-Aerospace to source more serial produced 3D-printed components for it, with a printed nose landing.

Boeing has been trying 3D printing for a long time. In 2019, Boeing created the first 3D printed metal satellite antenna. The antenna was built for Spacecom, an Israeli company which  successfully launched its AMOS 17 satellite. Using additive manufacturing, Boeing was able to replace several parts in large assembly with a single 3D printed part, decreasing the weight of the antenna and the time it took to manufacture.

Such adoption of 3D printing by leading companies and benefits experienced are likely to boost the global aerospace 3d printing market.

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Market Segmentation

By technology, the market is segmented into:

• Powder Bed Fusion
• Polymerization
• Material Extrusion or Fusion Deposition Modelling (FDM)
• Others

By offerings, the market is classified into:

• Materials
• Printers
• Software
• Services

By platform, the market is divided into:

• Aircraft 
• Spacecraft 
• Unmanned Ariel Vehicles (UAV)

By end use, the market is segmented into:

• OEM
• MRO

By application, the market is divided into:

• Tooling
• Prototyping
• Functional Parts

By region, the market is classified into:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East and Africa

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Key Industry Players in the Market

The report presents a detailed analysis of the following key players in the global aerospace 3D printing market, looking into their capacity, and latest developments like capacity expansions, plant turnarounds, and mergers and acquisitions:

• Stratasys Ltd
• 3D Systems, Inc.
• EOS GmbH Electro Optical Systems
• Norsk Titanium US Inc.
• Ultimaker BV
• Others

The EMR report gives an in-depth insight into the industry by providing a SWOT analysis as well as an analysis of Porter’s Five Forces model.

Key Highlights of the Report