3D printing is moving toward manufacturing, the mainstream economic influence is growing

A neat and gleaming tooth will make your smile more beautiful, but how many people who have had dental care will know that they are using the new industrial revolution's batch of products in their mouths? Tens of millions of crowns, bridges and braces are now manufactured with the help of 3D printing. Forget the idea that amateurs print some plastic trinkets in their own homes! Industrial-grade 3D printers, which cost even as much as a million dollars, are the real names that can change manufacturing.

This is all evident in the dental field. For the production of metal dentures, dentists have long relied on a process known as "solder casting." The process usually uses a wax material to create a dental mold for the patient, then wraps it with a ceramic outer shell, and then melts the wax material after pouring it at a high temperature, and then injects the molten metal into the remaining cavity. The rear mold is cracked and new metal teeth are removed. This process is cumbersome, labor intensive, and not always, and again, this casting method has existed for about 5,000 years.

The practice at a factory in Miskin, England, is quite different. The plant was set up by Renishaw, a manufacturer of 3D printing equipment in the UK, with three 3D printers from Renishaw and is expected to be installed soon. Each machine can produce more than 200 crowns and bridges, each based on the patient's dental scan data. The machine uses a laser to melt the cobalt-chromium alloy powder layer by layer and produce the desired shape. The entire process can take 8 to 10 hours - but the printer can be run unattended, and each tooth is specifically designed for the characteristics of different patients. Once completed, these components will be shipped to dental laboratories throughout Europe where workers will add porcelain layers.

However, the oral cavity is not the entire testing ground for 3D printed products. According to figures from 3D printing professional consulting firm Wohlers Associates, more than 60 million shaped hearing aid housings and ear molds have been manufactured using 3D printers since 2000. 3D printed orthopedic implants, from the titanium mandible to the prostheses, hips, and replacement joints, have been installed on hundreds of thousands of people. Numerous surgical procedures have become more accurate and safer thanks to 3D printed surgical guides; approximately 100,000 knee replacements are achieved this way each year.

Of course, it should not be surprising that the health care industry adapts so quickly to additive manufacturing. Because everyone is there, the customized production capacity of 3D printers just meets this demand. This machine relies primarily on computer-aided design (CAD) software, which instructs the printer to build objects through continuous stratified materials. In hospitals, medical scans actually act as your CAD files. Software changes faster and cheaper than molds in traditional factories.

However, additive manufacturing is still a small point compared to the $70 billion machine tool market. But it has expanded rapidly and is not just in the health care arena. Overall, according to Wohlers estimates, 3D printed products and services grew by 26% in 2015, valued at nearly $5.2 billion. And this is just one of the nine cattle in the huge industrial manufacturing market. According to management consulting firm McKinsey, 3D printing technology could generate up to $550 billion in annual economic impact by 2025 if better products, lower prices, and improved health are brought.

One of the reasons that makes 3D printers more mainstream is that they have become better and better with the advancement of materials science, said Andy Middleton, head of 3D printing giant Stratasys Europe. The company has just launched a 3D printer called the J750, which can print color objects in 3D using 6 materials at the same time, and can achieve 360,000 colors.

(Original title: The Economist: 3D printing is moving towards the mainstream of manufacturing)