3D Printing: The Disruptive Technology

Are you interested in the world of 3D printing? As a rapidly growing sector of the manufacturing industry, the sales of products and services in 3D printing have grown at a 35.2% compounded annual growth rate and these products and services now comprise an industry worth over $4 billion.

Americhem scientist and R&D manager Ron Beck has been involved in developing colorants for 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, since 2012. He will be delivering a keynote address, “3D Printing: The Disruptive Technology” at the Society of Plastics Engineers CAD RETEC Conference on Tuesday, October 5 at 8:30 a.m. Ron will share his insights into the industry and the opportunities it offers for manufacturers to be on the cutting edge of modern technology.

Did you know that there are seven different types of 3D printing methods as defined by ASTM? Ron

will delve into each technology, describing each process’s methodology and their common uses. He’ll also describe how these 3D manufacturing methods are overcoming and augmenting some of the limitations of traditional manufacturing methods such as injection molding, blow molding, extrusion and vacuum forming.

So just what is a disruptive technology anyway? It’s a technology that creates a new market and then disrupts an existing technology and eventually takes over the parts of the industry that are unable to adapt to the competition. 3D printing certainly qualifies. The material extrusion method of 3D printing uses 1.75 to 3.0 mm filament as its raw material. Ron will explain how Americhem is adapting its vDesign software to optimize and accelerate the filament buying process.

Ron’s paper will also examine industries where 3D printing is revolutionizing the way people do things, such as the medical, dental and aerospace industries. He’ll also take a look at the limitations of the technology as it currently stands.

We encourage you to attend the keynote address if you’ll be at CAD RETEC. We also plan to develop white papers and other content based on Ron’s research. If you have a question that he can help answer, please feel free to leave a comment so we can continue the conversation.