In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the current state of 3D printing technology, examples of its applications, ethical issues, and the future outlook (diversification of materials and expansion of production scale), in that order.
How 3D Printers Will Change Our Lives and the Market
Let’s think about a tangible “3D” object. In the past, if you wanted to buy a small coffee maker, you had to go to a store in person, but now it’s common to order it online and have it delivered to your home. Furthermore, as 3D printers become more widespread in households, you may not even need to go to the front door to receive a package. An era may be coming where you can simply download a design and press the print button to get the product right at home.
The market is also growing rapidly. One report from 2016 projected that the 3D printing industry would reach approximately $14.8 billion by 2018 and $21 billion by 2020. The expansion of the market and technological advancements demonstrate the potential for 3D printers to become even more deeply integrated into daily life and across all industries.
Today, the range of items that can be printed with 3D printers is extremely diverse. There are attempts to create miniature figures of people using 3D scanners, produce food by printing ingredients as powder, and use 3D printing for biomimetic and surgical modeling, such as artificial organs and medical devices. Furthermore, the scope of what can be printed has expanded significantly, with examples ranging from printing entire houses to even printing other 3D printers.
If an era arrives where every household owns a 3D printer, people will be able to enjoy the convenience of printing various products right at home. However, this could also give rise to ethical and social issues, such as the indiscriminate distribution of dangerous items like firearms and the infringement of intellectual property rights. These problems can only be resolved if institutional safeguards and ethical awareness are strengthened in tandem with technological advancements. That said, rather than emphasizing these concerns, this article focuses on the vision and possibilities that 3D printers will unlock.
The Identity and Industrial Significance of 3D Printers
At first glance, the printed objects cited in the examples above may seem unrelated. However, upon closer examination, the common thread among these examples is that 3D printers possess an identity as a “medium that bridges imagination and reality.” In other words, they have great potential to become a key tool for creating new value across various industrial sectors.
For example, 3D-printed food and 3D-scan-based miniature production are examples of bringing individual imagination or memories to life in physical form. Artificial body parts and organ models can be applied to actual affected areas or used by medical staff for surgical simulations, thereby contributing to increased proficiency and a reduction in medical errors. Examples of 3D-printed houses demonstrate that 3D printing technology can expand into new industrial sectors that were traditionally difficult to access. Even attempts to 3D-print the 3D printer itself suggest the potential for the technology to create its own ecosystem.
Of course, current 3D printers have various limitations, such as print speed, precision, and durability, and not all of the proposed applications have fully taken root yet. Nevertheless, the very act of seeking new areas of application and exploring methods to achieve them is important, and through this, the scope of 3D printer applications will continue to expand.
Future Vision: Diversification of Materials and Expansion of Production Scale
Diversification of Materials
Currently, many desktop 3D printers use thermoplastic materials such as ABS or PLA. However, materials vary significantly depending on the purpose: artificial organs require organic substances similar to biological tissue; food printing uses powdered food ingredients; and house printing employs alternative materials like sand and cement. This diversity of materials naturally leads to integration with various industrial sectors.
In the future, we will need to develop highly electrically conductive metals for semiconductor devices, glass materials capable of printing lenses, and materials with exceptional flexibility and elasticity for printing clothing. Furthermore, the emergence of functional materials that change their properties or partially decompose or dissolve after printing will lay the groundwork for easily realizing complex internal structures. For example, by using a material that dissolves in water as a support material, it is possible to remove only specific parts after printing to achieve complex internal geometries.
Expansion of the Manufacturing Scale
Expanding the manufacturing scale encompasses growth in both directions: scaling up and scaling down. On the scaling-up front, attempts to print actual living spaces (e.g., houses) are already underway. However, current house printing primarily involves stacking materials such as cement, which differs from “true” 3D printing in the traditional sense. If the use of metal materials becomes feasible and printers capable of moving freely without being restricted to a specific space are developed, innovative applications—such as the production of automotive frames without welding—will become possible.
Conversely, by miniaturizing and increasing the precision of printed objects, it will be possible to manufacture high-precision products such as complex wristwatch movements or semiconductor devices. If 3D printers—currently used mainly for producing parts—become capable of directly printing finished precision machinery or electronic products, there is significant potential for the manufacturing process itself to undergo a fundamental transformation.
Judging by the trends so far, the expansion of the market and technological advancements are leading to integration with an increasing number of industrial sectors. Although several limitations must be overcome for these visions to become reality, 3D printers have the potential to become a key driving force at the center of all industrial sectors in the process. Just as the internet transformed distribution and industrial structures in the past, in the near future, printing a single coffee maker at home will be nothing out of the ordinary—the day may come when all you need to do is download the blueprints and press the print button.
