A timeline of key moments in 3D printing history.
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, more commonly known as 3D printing, has vaulted from laboratory curiosity to pop culture darling in the nearly 50 years since the technology found its start.
Early technology was expensive, making 3D printing a niche for a select few. Today, that tech has been widely democratized—such printers are readily available for a few hundred bucks.
Here’s a look back at some additive manufacturing milestones.
1986
- Charles Hull is granted the first patent in 3D printing for a stereolithography apparatus (SLA) machine, which he invented in 1983.
1980
- Hideo Kodama filed the first 3D printing patent application for a photopolymer rapid prototyping system that uses UV light to harden material. His idea was never commercialized.
1988
- 3D Systems sold the first commercial stereolithography printer–the “SLA-1.”
1987
- Carl Deckard filed a patent for a selective laser sintering (SLS) process. The patent was issued in 1989 to DTM, a company later acquired by 3D Systems.
1992
- AeroMet produced the first 3D printed metal process using electron beam melting.
1989
- Scott and Lisa Crump filed for a patent for fused deposition modeling (FDM).
2003
- GE Aviation developed a new fuel nozzle injector with a complex design that made conventional production nearly impossible. So, the company began a classified project with Cincinnati-based Morris Technologies to additively produce the complex fuel injector.
1999
- Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine grew the first 3D printed organ for transplant surgery: a human bladder.
2008
- “Darwin” became the first commercially available 3D printer that was designed under the RepRap concept.
- Shapeways launched a 3D printing service that allows users to submit their own files for personal fabrication.
2005
- Adrian Bowyer invented the RepRap open-source project to create a self-replicating 3D printer process, leading to the development of several new 3D printers.
- GE Aviation and Morris Technologies develop a 3D-printed fuel nozzle injector made of cobalt chromium.
2011
- The University of Southampton in the U.K. designed and flew the world’s first 3D printed aircraft.
- Kor Ecologic created the Urbee, the first prototype car with a 3D printed body.
2009
- The FDM patent previously held by Stratasys expired. Subsequently, the average FDM 3D printer price dropped from $10,000 to less than $4,000.
- Micro, a consumer 3D printer that supported PLA and ABS materials, launched a successful Kickstarter campaign becoming the platform’s most funded 3D printer project ever.
- Makerbot launched and brings 3D printing into the mainstream by introducing do-it-yourself kits for people that want to build their own 3D printers.
- Makerbot’s Thingiverse file library, which enabled users to submit and download 3D printable files, became the largest online 3D printing community and file repository.
2013
- Stratasys acquired Makerbot for $400 million.
2012
- B9Creator and Form 1 launched successful Kickstarter campaigns, introducing into the entry-level market with DLP technology and alternative 3D printing process with stereolithography, respectively.
- GE Aviation acquired Morris Technologies and developed additive process parameters for mass-producing its fuel nozzle injectors—the first additively made complex component for a production jet engine.
2019
- Patents expirations combined with open-source accessibility have led to the creation of 155 maker-oriented manufacturers across the world, such as 3D Systems, Stratasys, Fusion3, Formlabs, Desktop Metal, Prusa, and Voxel8.
2014
- Cellink, a Swedish company, introduced the first standardized commercial bio-ink to the market, derived from a seaweed material called nanofibrillated cellulose, which can be used for printing tissue cartilage.
2022
- HP reached a milestone of producing 170 million 3D printed parts.
- Stanford University engineers developed a 3D printing method called injection CLIP (iCLIP) that used multiple types of resin in a single object, making it five to 10 times faster than the quickest high-resolution printing method at the time.
2020
- In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, 3D printing manufacturers and hobbyists alike stepped up to produce medical equipment such as face shields, testing kits, and ventilators.
- GE Aviation’s GE9X engine received FAA certification. The GE9X combined more than 300 engine parts into just seven 3D-printed components, including the fuel nozzle, low pressure turbine blades, and heat exchanger.
- COBRA Golf released the first 3D-printed golf club, the KING Supersport-35 putter.
- Stratasys launched affordable 3D printer models J826 and J55.
2024
- The European Space Agency’s “Metal3D” project developed and deployed a system that allowed for 3D printing in space for the first time aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
2023
- India-based Skyroot Aerospace test-fired a fully 3D-printed cryogenic engine.
- The University of Oxford developed a novel 3D printing method to create human neural stem cells in a possible pathway for repairing brain injuries.
2025
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers developed an additive manufacturing technique called liquid metal printing (LMP), which deposits molten aluminum along a predefined path into a bed of tiny glass beads. The aluminum then hardens into a 3D structure.
- Georgia Tech researchers created a 3D-printed heart valve made of bioresorbable materials, marking the first combination of the two technologies to create an implant with a resorbable, shape memory material.
- Auxilium Biotechnologies deployed its 3D bioprinter aboard the ISS, printing eight implantable medical devices simultaneously in two hours.
- Biomedical engineers from the University of Melbourne invented a 3D printing system capable of fabricating structures that mimic human tissues.
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