SmarTech, a provider of additive manufacturing market data and market analysis, released a new titanium additive manufacturing forecast and market tracking database for titanium additive manufacturing (AM) opportunities that shows that shipments of titanium powders to AM users grew by 32% in 2018. SmarTech’s data release also projects that 2019 will produce an additional 24% growth in titanium alloy revenues.

According to the report:
–The titanium forecast for 2019 will be tied to healthcare and aerospace activities, though interest and adoption of additive manufacturing in other industrial segments (including automotive, energy, consumer goods and heavy equipment) keep attention on titanium even as other metals have made strides.

–Two major drivers are behind the adoption of additively manufactured titanium parts. Titanium provides a solution for high strength to weight ratio components (which can have further weight optimization through generative designs enabled by additive processes), and the material offers resilient biocompatible structures that can perform under the rigors of medical implant applications.

On one hand, there is a broad appeal for use of additively manufactured titanium structures to serve light-weighting applications for structural parts in various systems compared to the scope of titanium’s use in healthcare applications. On the other hand, there seems to be great potential on the side of healthcare for major disruption using additive manufacturing where an entire industry shifts to additive production, such as the area of orthopedic implants. This also provides an equally compelling argument for long term opportunities for titanium where such alloys are already very relevant and widely adopted using other means of production.

SmarTech
www.smartechpublishing.com

A link to the report is here.