3D Printing Can Now Be Safer, More Secure

Three-dimensional printing, also known as 3D printing or additive manufacturing, is a fast-growing market. Though it has not reached its full potential yet, the industry has been projected to reach US$20.2 billion [$25.8 billion] in 2020, a 400 percent increase from its present market value.

But the current 3D printing landscape is not at all safe to creators, especially to those who wish to keep their unpatented designs from reaching other computers. To be able to print, one has to go through a third party company, which makes the coded information vulnerable to theft, duplicates and copycats in the online world. Protecting IP items from the very duplicitous market is among IP holders’ main concerns today, and hence subjecting a work to printing firms aggravates the problem.

According to Digital Journal, a new kind of 3D printing has emerged, and its key selling point is its capability to protect creators and IP holders from data leakage that is quite inevitable on the Web. Through a new technology called “cloud printing," companies like Pinshape and 3DPrinterOS can now offer 3D printing without the risk of having a valued design or blueprint being robbed by online opportunists.

The emergence of stream-only/on-demand content has become a very effective tool for third-party 3D printers. Now, with cloud printing, the market is expected to expand at a fast rate in the years to come as then-hesitant clients are expected to flock to various printing companies. New printing companies are also projected to emerge, most of which will likely tap the IP-protect capabilities that cloud printing offers.

The sudden boom of 3D printers in the automotive and aircraft industry is also augmenting the demand for titanium dioxide mineral. That’s why rutile miners like White Mountain Titanium Corporation (OTCQB:WMTM) can expect a lucrative start when it joins the global commerce in 2017. The company’s projected production volume of 80,000 tonnes a year could help meet the growing demand for the mineral that’s also used in various industries like cosmetics, food, and paints and coatings.

Three-dimensional printers are capable of producing metal objects by utilising and adding layer-upon-layer of titanium dioxide-metallic powders together. Through laser, it will combine the material to create a finished product.

Iluka Resources Ltd., one of the world’s largest producers of titanium dioxide mineral, believes that 3D printing will experience a boom in the near future because automotive companies will utilise it to create actual car parts and not just models for feasibility studies, client presentations, and product tests.

“The reality is that this could be game-changing. The big applications will be alloys, automotive, sheet metal and things that can now be printed in 3D. We’ll provide the powder that goes to those 3D printers,” Iluka CEO David Robb told Bloomberg.

According to a 2015 report by additive marketing analyst Wohlers Associates, the 3D printing market was worth US$4.1 billion in 2014, following a 34.9 percent growth in 2013. The segment has a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.8 percent over the last three years.

Contact the writer: a.lu@ibtimes.com.au