Over the past decade, 3D printing technology has rapidly evolved from an interesting experimental novelty to an everyday reality that is rapidly gaining ground in a variety of industries, from medical prosthetics to construction, and is also spreading to the aerospace and defense industries.
Today, small arms parts and even entire rocket engines are printed on 3D printers. There are already culinary 3D printers that offer a menu of printed burgers, cakes, vegan steaks, and other goodies.
Instead of ink, the cartridges of such devices contain various plastic mixtures of polymers, metal crumbs, cement, or other substances that are fed into the nozzle in a liquid or molten state under pressure. The mixtures are then applied layer by layer and quickly harden or sintered by laser or UV radiation, realizing the designer's intent.
However, some materials that do not melt but burn at high temperatures cannot be used in the printer. For example, it is impossible to print paper or cotton fabric, or a wooden spoon. But a copy of a Trypillian clay pot or a bronze Scythian sword is fine.
We have prepared an overview of the most impressive projects created using 3D printing in the construction, space, food, and military industries.
The future of 3D technology: how 3D printing works
The dynamics of the rapid evolution of 3D technologies in the construction industry are impressive. Over the past 10 years, new materials optimized for 3D construction have emerged, and models of construction printers capable of building large structures with complex geometries have been created.
According to analysts at InsightAce Analytic, an Indian consulting company, the global 3D printing construction market reached $7.6 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to $296.7 billion by 2031, reflecting a staggering CAGR of 57.56% from 2024 to 2031.
Meanwhile , astudy of the market by Polaris provides even more impressive figures: the 3D printing market is projected to grow by 88.3% by 2032. According to experts, 3D printers will not displace traditional construction methods from the market, but in the near future, printed houses will account for the largest share of new buildings.
The number of builders involved in the construction of a 3D house is minimized. Usually, 3-4 people work at the construction site of a private cottage: a qualified 3D printer operator, a foreman who monitors the process, and several workers to prepare and load the mixture and other auxiliary work. Modern construction 3D printers are capable of building a one-story mansion very quickly, within 36 hours.
According to the project, window and door openings, openings for pipes and wires remain in the walls of the house. But plumbers and electricians will still have to install utilities in the old-fashioned way, and the same applies to the construction of the roof, except for the dome structure.
The cost of a one-story house created by an industrial 3D printer starts at around USD 10 thousand. The subsequent installation of windows and doors, water pipes, sewage and electricity, as well as roofing, flooring and interior decoration significantly increases the price of the cottage. The cost of interior design, connecting the house to utility networks, and landscaping should be added to the price. As a result, a turnkey house costs from USD 300 thousand.
At the same time, to create the desired three-dimensional objects, it is not necessary to buy expensive 3D equipment and equally expensive mixtures. There are already a number of companies in the world that 3D print objects, parts, and spare parts of any configuration to order. For example, Parts on Demand, a Dutch company based in Utrecht ,offers such servicesat .
The company owns a fleet of state-of-the-art high-speed industrial 3D printers that can produce series of models from 2 to 100,000 copies. The company offers a wide range of high-quality materials from plastics to metals for project implementation.
Each of them is suitable for different applications and will provide any parameters: elasticity and flexibility, rigidity and strength, waterproof or heat resistance. There are also several types of special antibacterial coatings for products intended for use in the food industry or medical field.
The ordering process is very simple - you need to send a 3D file with your project in STEP file format to the company's email. These files can be created using programs such as Blender, Google SketchUp, or other 3D/CAD software packages.
You should consult with a local specialist, then choose the material, color, finish, and whether post-processing is required. The cost of the product can be roughly calculated using a special online calculator, and the company claims that the price will not exceed 0.10 euros per cubic centimeter.
The first 3D office building in Europe
Europe's first 3D-printedoffice building was opened in September 2022 in the Austrian town of Hausleiten. The 125-square-meter, one-story office was built with the BOD2 construction printer from a patented quick-setting concrete mix. The movable nozzle was supported by 6 metal scaffolding that was installed around the perimeter of the future building.
This computerized mechanism from PERI lays the mixture at a speed of 1 meter per second, so the building frame was printed in just 45 hours.
The building is shaped like an attractive cloverleaf with rounded corners. The light gray facades do not require additional finishing and showcase neat layers of concrete, similar to stacked ship ropes.
Villa in Saudi Arabia
In November 2022, Dar Al Arkan built a three-story villa in Saudi Arabia with a giant COBOD 3D printer , which the Guinness Book of World Records recognized as the tallest 3D building at the time.
The 9.9-meter-high, 345-square-meter house was printed in 26 days, while the concrete mortar, made from local materials, was inexpensive, about $11,000.
The interior includes a spacious hall and living room with a balcony, 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, bathrooms, toilets, a maid's room and utility storerooms.
It is interesting that the construction was carried out in the Arabian desert, where the air temperature reached + 40 °C, but the extreme weather conditions did not affect the quality of the concrete solution. The building itself has a comfortable climate, as thermal insulation is laid between the double walls.
This energy-saving design will save the homeowners up to 30% of the electricity costs for air conditioning. The roof has its own solar power plant.
3D technology creates affordable housing in the US
In February 2024, Citizen Robotics put up for sale on a family home printed on a 3D printer in Detroit, Michigan. The area of the house is 91.78 square meters, and it has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. Soon the house was sold for $224,500.
ICON, the leading 3D construction company in the US , has already built several residential buildings with the help of the colossal Vulcan robotic printer. Among them is the first US cottage, Chicon House, printed in 47 hours in Austin, Texas.
In 2023, ICON announced the Initiative 99 global architectural competition, which was attended by architects and designers from 60 countries. The goal of the competition is to create the best designs for 3D houses costing $99 thousand or less, affordable for low-income families and the homeless.
In March 2024, the company summed up the results, awarded the winners with a $1 million prize, and began implementing the best projects. The first prize in the open category went to the American studio Guerin Glass Architects.
Currently, Vulcan 3D printers are being used in the construction of the 100-home Wolf Ranch community, which is being built on the picturesque San Gabriel River in Texas, not far from Georgetown.
The walls of the buildings are printed from Lavacrete, a branded concrete that is resistant to temperature fluctuations, water, mold, fire, and even termites. Photovoltaic solar panels are mounted on the roofs to provide electricity to the houses.
White Tower in the Swiss Alps
Three-dimensional printing technology has given architects freedom from design constraints. Now designers have access to the most complex forms of monolithic structures, which fantastically expands the aesthetic palette of buildings and the possibilities for implementing the most daring ideas.
The Swiss architects, IT engineers, and programmers who united around the Tor Alva projecttook full advantage of this opportunity .
The work began in February 2024 in the laboratories of the Federal Technical University of Zurich, where a 3D printer took 9,000 hours to print prefabricated elements of a 30-meter tower from snow-white concrete, which is already under construction in the mountain village of Mulegns, near the Julier Pass in the Swiss Alps, in the southeast of the country.
Interestingly, this once densely populated village now has only 16 inhabitants, and the Tor Alva project aims to revitalize tourism in this remote and now decaying mountainous region with incredible views.
The openwork design of the round White Tower consists of 102 elegantly curved columns resembling crossed elephant tusks. They make up 32 monolithic elements, their dimensions are designed for delivery by road. The tower blocks are assembled on site using strong bolts.
The tower has 5 levels connected by a spiral staircase. On the top floor, there is a theater for 45 spectators with a stage in the center, offering a magnificent circular panorama of the Alps. The building is completed by an elegant ribbed dome.
The art object is designed in a reinterpreted Baroque style, with each column decorated with an individual three-dimensional pattern. In addition, the White Tower became the world's first 3D concrete structure with steel rods embedded in its body.
“Up until now, there was never any rebar integrated into the concrete,” architect Michael Hansmeyercommented on this achievement on Euronews. “We’ve been able to integrate for the first time rebar into this concrete extrusion process, which allows us to build very, very high.”
Upon completion of the installation of the elements, the 30-meter White Tower will become the world's tallest 3D structure made of reinforced concrete.
Accommodation for unpretentious romantics
Meanwhile, 3DCP Group, a startup from Denmark, has printed Europe's smallest triangular-shaped house with an area of 36.97 square meters in the town of Hostelbro. This tiny house, called House 1.0 by , was built with cheap materials and with the lowest production costs.
Inspired by the unpretentious student life, architect Sebastian Aristotelis said that the space in the mini-house is planned very economically but comfortably, with every meter being used effectively. There is a living room, a kitchen, and a loft-style bedroom located on the mezzanine above the bathroom.
“Our task was to make a small housing unit for students, which should contain all the rooms and functionalities of a normal house, but be so low cost, that even students could afford to live in it," explained the architect.
3DCP Group CEO Mikkel Brich added: "Innovative 3D printing technologies are truly a game changer for construction, as they bring to life new architectures that would not have been possible with traditional construction methods just yesterday."
Lunar module on Earth
Designers and architects of the Danish company Saga Spase Architects have printed a full-size prototype of a self-sufficient 3D module of a lunar settlement called FLEXHab. This cozy and multifunctional habitat is designed to train astronauts for the European Space Agency's Artemis mission, an ambitious program to return to the Moon and comprehensively explore the Earth's satellite.
The futuristic facade of the building is printed from a fiberglass-reinforced polymer. The diameter of the cylindrical module is 4 m, the length is 13 m, and it is designed for four people. The exit is carried out through a gateway isolated from the external environment, where the decompression process is modeled, and where suits and tools are stored.
The main volume of the module is reserved for a laboratory block with scientific equipment and a communication terminal. The astronauts have 4 compact sleeping capsules with TVs, showers, washbasins, toilets, and cabinets for storing personal belongings.
The galley is the crew's resting place, with a well-equipped kitchen, dining table and benches covered in imitation vegan suede. There is also a small gym with exercise equipment. A wide window displays a lunar landscape created with the help of animation. The blue disk of the Earth is visible above the horizon among the stars.
To make the residents feel cozy and comfortable, the interiors are decorated with textiles and wood imitation elements. All rooms are equipped with circadian lighting and computerized climate control systems.
3D printers of the International Space Station
Back in 2014, NASA engineers sent the first 3D printer capable of operating in zero gravity to the International Space Station (ISS). The device functioned in an experimental mode, with literally every movement monitored by ground-based surveillance services, adding to the experience of volume printing in orbit.
3D production in outer space is much more complicated than on Earth, the main problem being microgravity, or the absence of gravity at all. The disappearance of gravity creates completely different conditions for the process.
For example, the deposition of molten metal and other substances is unpredictable, and this disrupts the specified shape and structure, affecting the quality of the product. So engineers had to invent new technologies to adapt the 3D printing process to these incredible conditions.
In January 2024, the ISS equipment fleet was replenished with a printer that can print metal parts, designed by specialists from the aerospace consortium Airbus Defense & Space and the French company AddUp.
The device was installed in the Columbus laboratory module, where it was tested for six months. And so, in August 2024, a technological breakthrough occurred: astronauts Sunita Williams and Jeannette Eppsprinted a three-dimensional stainless steel part in outer space for the first time in the history of .
A powerful laser with a beam temperature of 1,200 °C melted the metal wire, and a nozzle applied the hot metal in thin layers to the moving plate. The process took place in a pressurized environment filled with nitrogen to prevent metal oxidation and protect the module from fire.
The researchers then restored the normal atmosphere in the printer's housing and removed the cooled part. This breakthrough event paves the way for the production of spare parts in space for in-orbit repairs, and even entire structures that currently have to be shipped from Earth.
Printed meals
3D printing technologies promise revolutionary changes in the food industry, but this is a very sensitive area, so printed food has not yet become widespread and is still at an experimental stage. First of all, space agencies that are currently planning missions to the Moon or Mars are interested in food printing technologies, and they have been researching them since 2004. Various technologies are being tested to make 3D food: extrusion printing, laser sintering, inkjet, etc.
The United States is a leader in the development of 3D food. In 2023, the size of the US 3D food printing market was estimated at $191.4 million, and it is expected to grow to $413 million by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 7.22% from 2024 to 2034.
Breakthrough research has been successful in other countries as well. For example, the Japanese startup Open Mills has developed a sushi printing technology, and in 2023, the first batch of printed edible products appeared in German supermarkets of the REWE chain - vegetable fillets of smoked salmon from Revo Foods.
The vegan "salmon" sold out in a few days at a price of 7 euros per 130-gram package. Customer reviews on Instagram were mostly favorable, but there were also other comments such as "why would I buy fake salmon more expensive than the real thing?" Robin Sims, CEO of Revo Foods, told Business Insider that the price will drop significantly when the company produces the alternative seafood on an industrial scale.
In 2022, the Israeli startup SavorEat introduced 3D-printed plant-based burgers. These products are kosher, vegan, and gluten-free, offering a unique and inclusive alternative to the plant-based food market.
Since 2021, NASA has been working with the Systems & Materials Research Corporation (SMRC) to create food 3D printers and products for astronauts in space.
SMRC has developed a pizza printing system using nutrient-rich powdered foods to automate food production in space.
Smart printers can adjust the content of proteins, vitamins, minerals, sugars, and other ingredients in food mixtures to meet food industry standards, and AI computer programs can produce products with individual nutritional properties.
3D structures in the army
3D construction technologies are already being used in the military industry, as printers can quickly build concrete bunkers, repair shops, missile launch sites, and various fortifications and shelters.
The room is equipped with bunks, a weapons storage room, a hygiene unit, and a recreation area. Lieutenant General Doug Gabram commented: “Constructing facilities using this cutting-edge technology saves labor costs, reduces planning time, and increases the speed of construction of future facilities.”
In the same year, the US Marine Corps base Camp Pendleton in California printed a solid concrete bridge over a wide ditch in three days . The process began with scanning the landscape with a lidar, then the data was transferred to a 3D construction printer computer, which created the optimal design of the crossing and its printing program.
"The bridge cost about $1,000 and was built with a printer in 72 hours," said construction battalion officer Eric Setherswaite. "Similar bridges we built in Afghanistan took 2 weeks to build and cost $75,000."
The new technology makes it possible to quickly and cheaply build such bridges not only for the tactical needs of the army, but also to save people in disaster areas where communication routes have been destroyed.
Spare parts for Ukrainian armored vehicles
In the military context, 3D printing has enormous potential to shorten supply chains in critical environments. Ukraine has received a large-scale fleet of military equipment from dozens of countries, all of which are in need of maintenance and periodic repair. Many of them are quite outdated, and spare parts for them have not been produced for a long time.
For example, Australia sent to the Ukrainian Armed Forces three dozen M113 armored personnel carriers, which were created about 40 years ago. Some of their components are incompatible with modernized models. Therefore, in 2023, the Australian company SPEED3D provided the Armed Forces with seven WarpSPEED3D printers capable of printing the required metal parts weighing up to 40 kg.
The printer is compact enough to be mounted on a truck and quickly transported to frontline field repair shops. Australian 3D printing experts have organized training for Ukrainian military technicians at a base in Poland.
Another striking example of the use of 3D printers on the front line is the production of non-standard tools for repairing American equipment. The United States has traditionally used the English system of measurement, the so-called "imperial" system. So repairmen of Abrams tanks or Bradley infantry fighting vehicles may need, say, a half-inch wrench (12.7 mm), while Ukrainian repairmen usually have only metric tools at their disposal.
In order not to wait several weeks for the delivery of an order from overseas, 3D printers are now being used at the frontline, capable of printing an American-standard tool from metal or durable plastic in a couple of hours.
According to the Voice of America, in the fall of 2023, the Pentagon handed over industrial 3D printers with a software package and legal permission to print spare parts for military equipment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Ukrainian "DrukArmy"
Since the first days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of volunteer organizations have sprung up to provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with much-needed equipment. Among them is the volunteer "DrukArmy". It virtually unites more than 1,700 owners of household 3D printers from different cities across the country.
They print simple but extremely important products: parts for drones, stabilizer shanks for grenade drops, shells for mines and shells, trench periscopes, and more, 126 products in total.
One of them is a protective cap for connectors (wires with connectors) that connect Starlink satellite communication platforms used by Ukrainian soldiers on the front line. These vulnerable wires often break when the device is moved in combat conditions. The cost of such a spare part on the market is up to 5 thousand UAH.
However, the vulnerable connector becomes much more reliable if it is protected by a very simple plastic cap. From 850 grams of plastic, the standard filling of a household 3D printer cartridge, 77 sets of caps can be printed, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of hryvnias. These products together cost 350 hryvnias.
Another development of volunteers is a launching platform for drones. Many army UAV pilots launch an explosive-equipped drone by hand, which is extremely dangerous. The plastic launch pad can be installed on a slope or even in the mud, and can be launched remotely from a safe distance, reports on the DrukArmy website.