The History of the Additive Manufacturing Process

The first idea for 3D printing emerged as early as the 1970s. However, further years passed before the first trial took place, and it was not until 1981 that the first 3D printing attempt was made by Dr. Kodama. With his development of the rapid prototyping technique, he was the first to describe manufacturing with a layer-by-layer approach. This process is considered the precursor to stereolithography (SLA), which polymerizes resin using UV light. However, because he did not file the patent application on time, Charles Hull got his chance in 1986, and submitted a first patent for SLA. Shortly thereafter, he founded 3D Systems Corporation and launched his first commercial product, the SLA-1, just 2 years later. That same year, Carl Deckard filed a patent on Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology, a 3D printing process in which powder grains are fused together by a directly aligned laser. And also Scott Crump, a co-founder of Stratasys Inc, registered a patent for fused deposition modeling (FDM) at the same time. In this decade alone, three 3D printing processes were developed, forming the foundation of 3D printing. With SLA, SLS and FDM technologies as the cornerstone of 3D printing, 3D printing developed rapidly over the next few years. Stratasys received the patent for the FDM process and went on to develop many 3D printers for specialists as well as private consumers. By 1999, the major players in 3D printing had developed many other techniques such as ZCorp and Binder Jetting, Arcam MCP technology and selective laser melting. But companies in Europe also became active. For example, EOS GmbH created the first EOS "Stereos" system for industrial prototyping and production applications of 3D printing. Arriving in the 2000s, 3D printers were used in the medical industry, and it was in 2000 that the first kidney was 3D printed. However, the first implantation occurred 13 years later and is now a common procedure. In 2004, a first project was started to have a 3D printer manufactured via 3D printing and in 2005, the first high-resolution color 3D printer was launched. 3 years later, researchers were able to print the first prosthesis, all containing parts of a biological limb. When FDM's patent became public in 2009, 3D printers also became more affordable as the technology became more accessible. Especially in recent years, 3D printing has become increasingly important, opening up whole new possibilities for companies in the fields of prototyping and production technology. Today, 3D printing is constantly evolving, and new classes of materials that can be processed in 3D printing are also being explored, so there is a wide range available. One of these new material classes is amorphous metals.

AMTEC - Additive Manufacturing of Amorphous Metals at Heraeus AMLOY