Additive Manufacturing and Lightweight Materials for Aerospace and Defense 2018-2028

The aerospace and defense sector is key to assess when it comes to the adoption of any emerging technology. The main players have specific material requirements and big budgets to address their needs. Analysing this sector gives vital insights into longer term trends, in many cases a trickle-down effect of these technologies will be seen into higher-volume and lower budget transportation industries over time.

 

One of the key demands is lightweighting. Aerospace has the highest carbon footprint per tonne-km over any other mode of transportation and regulatory demands and economic advantages mean that saving any weight is a constant target. Despite the increase regulatory pressure, the aerospace industry remains very healthy with a CAGR of 6.2% for aircraft deliveries from Boeing and Airbus since 2010 and significant number of backorders in place.

 

This report looks at the key lightweighting approaches for this sector and which players and technologies stand to be the main winners and losers, the predominant focus is on advanced lightweight materials and the rise of additive manufacturing. The material outlook is for all aerospace and defense applications, aircraft have the highest demand by volume and the applications investigated ranges to structural load-bearing roles, interiors, jet engines, and more.

 

This research was conducted through extensive research from IDTechEx. Granular 10-year market forecasts are provided for each section, and interview-based company profiles of innovative emerging companies addressing this sector are provided alongside this report.

 

 

 

In 2018, the 3D printing market comprises multiple different printer technologies. This report takes an in-depth look into established printer types compatible with polymer, metal and ceramic materials, including Vat Photopolymerisation (SLA/DLP/CLIP), Powder Bed Fusion (SLS/DMLS/EBM); Material Extrusion, Material Jetting, Binder Jetting and Directed Energy Deposition. Key technological capabilities, aerospace and defense manufacturing readiness levels, SWOT analyses and key manufacturers are discussed for each established printer type. In addition, compatible established material classes including Photosensitive Resins, Thermoplastic Powders, Thermoplastic Filaments, Metal Powders are presented and evaluated.

 

This report forecasts the key additive manufacturing technologies used by the aerospace and defense sector, with in depth discussion of currently commercialised and emerging printer technologies. The current state of the printer market is analysed, and long-range forecasts from 2018-2023 for accumulated and annual sales of printer technologies and materials including metal powders are evaluated.

 

 

 

 

There are many types of materials that go into the composition of components in the aerospace and defense sector. This report tackles the key lightweight materials, of which the main candidates are outlined below.

 

 

 

This report targets those most relevant to the aerospace and defense sector including: composites (FRP, CMC, MMC), lightweight metals (Al, Ti, Mg), and other emerging materials (specifically polymer aerogels and CNT yarns).

 

For each material the reader will find:

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