3D Printers in a Global Pandemic

Hey everyone welcome back to the 3D Printer Vault! In todays blog post I will be talking about the
rise of 3D printers in a Global Pandemic..

3D printers are a popular choice of technology in a variety of industries including the medical
industry, ‘3D printing in medicine has been used since the early 1990s’ { www.axial3d.com } and as a
result of the pandemic that began to hit globally in 2020 the rise of the need for 3D printers began.

As the corona virus disease began to spread through over 180 countries the pressure on the medical
industry increased and the rise for the need of supplies such as ventilator and other protective
equipment increased with it which led to a shortages of the equipment occurring worldwide.
According to www.rte.ie an article was wrote on the 7th of April about ‘public libraries across the
country are lending their 3D printers to make face shields for front line staff in the fight against
Covid-19’ this headline proves the initial severity for the lack of supplies our country had.

The versality of a 3D printer and its efficient prototyping abilities enabled it to be perfect solution to
respond to the pandemics emergency. As sourced by [ www.nature.com ] there were 6 different
applications that 3D printers were used to fight against the virus such as medical devices , testing
devices, training and visualization aid , personal protective equipment, personal accessories and
emergency dwellings. Medical devices are products such as ventilators and emergency respiration
devices , testing devices were nasopharyngeal swabs, personal accessories like face masks and mask
adjusters and personal protetctive equipment like face shields and respirators.

Image sourced from: www.axial3D.com

Nadav Goshen the CEO of MarketBot Industries an American 3D printer manufacturer company was
interviewed in www.tctmagazine.com where he speaks about his companies experience during the
pandemic. Goshen spoke about a ‘mechanical engineering student in Pennsylvania who reached out
to MarkerBot early on to see if the company could help with a prototype for a new ventilator’ this is
just an example of Goshens experience with engineers seeking assistance from MarkerBot with
corona virus related projects. The increased need for 3D printers during this time has to lead to a
major spike in sales and growth for the 3D printing Industry , as sourced from www.prnewswire.co.uk
statistics state that ‘Post-COVID-19 the global 3D printing market size is estimated to grow from

References
Axial 3D-Medical 3D Printing Experts , ‘About Medical 3D Printing-Axial3D-3D Printing In Healthcare’.
Available at <https://www.axial3d.com/how-it-works/medical-3d-printing/>
> [Accesssed 29Th March 2021]

Sharon Gaffney (2020) , www.rte.ie . ‘Libaries lend 3D printers for dace shield protection’. Available at
<https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2020/0407/1129163-libraries-3d-print-faceshields/>
[Accessed 29th March 2021]

GreenWood , ‘The Rise of 3D printing in the COVID-19 Pandemic’. Available at <https://www.news-

medical.net/health/The-Rise-of-3D-Printing-in-the-COVID-19-Pandemic.aspx> .
[Accessed 29th March 2021]

Griffith (2020), ‘Has the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of 3D printing’. Available at
<https://www.tctmagazine.com/additive-manufacturing-3d-printing-news/has-covid-19-pandemic-accelerate-
adoption-of-3d-printing/> [ Accessed 29th March 2021]

www.prnewswire.co.uk (2020). ‘Impact of COVID-19 on 3D printing Market Worth $30 billion by 2025’.
Available at <https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/impact-of-covid-19-on-3d-printing-market-worth-30-
2-billion-by-2025--exclusive-report-by-marketsandmarkets-301091432.html>
[Accessed 29th March 2021].