NEW YORK: SmarTech Analysis, the leading provider of additive manufacturing market data and market analysis, has just released a new market report on the quickly growing potential for additive manufacturing with copper and copper alloys.

The new report, “Copper Additive Manufacturing 2020 Market Database and Outlook,” is based on SmarTech’s forecast and market tracking database for copper additive manufacturing (AM) opportunities and shows that shipments of copper powders to AM users is expected to grow to over 1.4 million kilograms by 2029, expanding at a rate of 43 percent CAGR during the 15-year period. The report consists of two parts: a market analysis of the 3D-printed copper sector and a spreadsheet showing SmarTech’s 15-year forecast of copper powder, printers and applications used for 3D printing of copper.  Both volume and value forecasts are provided.

This outstanding growth expected for 3D-printed copper is due to crucial technological improvements in copper 3D printing processes and materials. The report shows AM’s potential to create disruptive copper component applications in industrial markets in the near future, with additional prospects to be found in medical devices and electronics as solutions continue to be adopted and refined.

About the Report:

This two-part resource is part of a series of market intelligence offerings from SmarTech Analysis which offers stakeholders in the worldwide copper production market, and existing additive manufacturing industry, an off-the-shelf resource for market metrics and forecasts specific to a quickly growing segment of the metal AM industry.

The in-depth analysis delivers a deep understanding of the driving variables that make 3D printed copper an attractive market prospect, together with a database providing crucial projection metrics for growth of copper additive manufacturing.

The data sets accompanying the report can easily be entered into existing internal market intelligence resources or examined to provide business intelligence across organizations. The accompanying report also provides context for the data by analyzing the latest events and trends in the copper powders AM market as they relate to various forecasted data.

From the Report:

• Total systems sales for copper AM are expected to grow by 34 percent across the projection period. This growth will create significant opportunities for copper powder sales; for both pure copper and copper alloys, across all metal 3D printing families. Powder bed fusion (PBF) and bound metal printing will be the largest segments to reap the benefits of increased copper printing, but even directed energy deposition—a comparatively small subsegment of copper 3D printing activity—is expected to grow.
• As these developments occur, SmarTech expects rapid growth of copper AM adoption, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. In turn, the AM copper powder market is projected to represent a large portion of the copper powder industry as a whole.
• Although all of the major metal AM technology families are being used for the 3D printing of copper, each present specific obstacles for processing the material using established AM system configurations, due mostly to copper’s physical attributes.

Companies discussed in the report include EOS, ExOne, Trumpf, Formalloy, Sandvik, Heraeus, Praxair Surface Technologies, Markforged, SPEE3D, Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, GKN Additive, Phoenix Contact, GH Induction, 3T, FIT AG and others.