3D Printing Plastics Market

Government initiatives are a key driver in accelerating the growth of the 3D printing plastics market globally. Governments worldwide have realized the potential of additive manufacturing to revolutionize the production system, and they are supporting its adoption and expansion through, funding, making favourable tax treatment, and enhancing the infrastructure required for domestic production. These efforts aim to increase the ability to produce goods domestically rather than adopting traditional production practices. The United States government, through organizations like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and America Makes, has created many programs focused on advancing additive manufacturing technologies. The German government, widely regarded as a global center of engineering and manufacturing, supports 3D printing via its "Industrie 4.0" initiative purring along the digital transformation path within the manufacturing sector.

One of the restraints on growth of the 3D printing plastics market is increasing global environmentalism when it comes to disposing of plastic-based products. 3D printing does have some benefits of decreasing waste material and on demand producing. However, the most common materials used, including ABS, PLA, and other thermoplastics, still contribute to environmental degradation at the end of their life cycle. Many of these plastics are non-biodegradable and could last in the environment indefinitely, particularly in situations where they are only used as prototypes, which can have extremely short lives before disposal, or as products that have very short lifespans. Although some 3D printing plastics, like PLA, are marketed as biodegradable, their decomposition typically requires industrial composting conditions that are not widely accessible.

The global push for sustainability and environmental stewardship is opening up an important opportunity for the 3D printing plastics market in the form of increased demand for bio-based plastic grades. Bio-based plastics use renewable resources such as corn starch, sugarcane, or cellulose in contrast to traditional petroleum based polymers. As industries and consumers begin to understand the impacts of plastic waste on the environment, the demand for biodegradable and recyclable material for 3D printing is quickly increasing. Bio-based or compostable materials such as Polylactic Acid (PLA) are currently being used in 3D printing applications such as prototyping and consumables, in part, that they are user-friendly, and have minimal impact to the environment during their production and use. In addition, ongoing research and development is advancing the use of bio-based materials with the goal of developing more durable high-performance plastics that can be used in functional components of products in categories such as automotive, medical, and electronics.

The major obstacle for the 3D printing plastics market is the high production cost of commercial grade plastic materials thus discouraging their extensive use in various end-use industries. These high-performance plastics, which include PEEK, polyamide, polycarbonate (PC) and carbon-fiber-reinforced thermoplastics have been developed for the most challenging applications across aerospace, automotive, medical and industrial markets. But making these products at commercial-quality standards comes with complex and energy-consuming methods (such as high-temperature polymerization, advanced compounding, and rigorous material conditioning) that will greatly influence costs of production. The commercial-grade plastics generally need much testing and certification to satisfy the industrial standards (such as for aerospace and medical applications), resulting in more development and compliance expenses.