The history of 3D printing already has many pages.
Contents
Learn about the history of 3D printing
After we recently gave you an overview of the history of 3D printing, we would like to tell you a little more about it today.
Another 3D printing inventor
Chuck Hull is generally regarded as the pioneer of 3D printing. This is by no means wrong, but only half the truth. Because also in 1980 the Japanese scientists also developed Hideo Kodama an early rapid prototyping technique. This method was already a layer-by-layer production, which can be considered the forerunner of stereolithography. Because Kodama also polymerized a light-sensitive resin with the help of UV light.
Unfortunately, Kodama failed to file its patent application on time.
The advent of 3D design software
The first came as early as 1985, although it was still comparatively primitive 3D design software on the market. Nowadays, of course, you have a wealth of 3D design programs at your disposal, of which SolidWorks can be named as a particularly prominent example.
First commercial 3D printers
2 years later, in 1987, the first commercial 3D printer, the SLA-1, came onto the market. The first FDM printer finally followed in 1991.
Developments since 1989
The year 1989 can be seen as a kind of milestone in the development of 3D printing technologies. At the time, Scott Crump registered the patent for the FDM process. In the same year, Carl Deckard also registered his patent for selective laser sintering (SLS printing).
At the same time, 2 processes saw the light of day, which are probably the two most important additive processes of our time. While the SLS process dominates by far in the industrial sector, FDM printing is almost unrivaled in the home user sector.
The 90’s in 3D printing
Between 1993 and 1999 further 3D printing processes were added.
Special mention should be made of selective laser melting (SLM), developed in 1995 at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen. The metal to be processed is applied in a thin layer to a substrate plate and locally melted there with the help of a laser beam.
Also in 1995, a German company developed quartz sand 3D printing. The first patent was granted in 1998 and the first sand molds were printed using this process in the same year.
From 2000: PolyJet printing
With PolyJet printing, another promising 3D printing process was added just in time for the turn of the millennium: PolyJet printing technology. A light-sensitive plastic is applied to the printing plate using a print head and immediately hardened by an integrated UV light source. PolyJet printing thus combines the most important components of FDM printing and stereolithography.
Learn more about our materials and processes on our website.
to materials