On October 19-20, in Paris, the largest trade fair event devoted to additive technologies in France took place – 3D PRINT Congress & Exhibition. The event was attended by most of the largest and most important French companies from the 3D printing sector, although the two most famous ones were missing – Prodways and Sculpteo. Nevertheless, the current companies have presented practically the full technological range in the field of additive technologies – from FDM / FFF, through 3D printers to light-curing resins, ending with powder technologies.
The event was divided into three sections – the largest, an exhibition section where 3D printers, materials for 3D printing and applications made with them were displayed, a conference section where lectures and debates were conducted on a wide range of issues related to additive production and discussion, where of the stands, case studies of selected companies and presentations of European startups were presented.
The leading brands among the current companies were the largest brands – Desktop Metal, Markforged, HP, Raise 3D, Arkema and Materialize, and leading French companies – AM Solutions, PollenAm, Atome3D, CADVISION, or EM3D. Nevertheless, the biggest sensation was the ROSA 3D stand, where … 3D prints from colorful, rainbow filaments were presented. Each attempt to talk to the company’s representatives involved at least a few minutes of waiting in the queue, because … there was always a queue to the ROSA stand!
The most impressive was the Raise3D France stand, where a complete system for 3D printing from metallic materials was presented – apart from a magnificent 3D printer, it was possible to see a set of stations for post-processing and smelting 3D prints.
At the Desktop Metal stand, mainly EnvisionTEC photopolymer 3D printers were presented, although many 3D prints made of metal using the Binder Jetting technology could be seen.
In this respect, the company’s deadly competitor, Markforged, fared much better, presenting a practically full portfolio of machines.
Other interesting stands and presented solutions:
During the two days of debates and lectures, representatives of the leading companies in the 3D printing industry, as well as companies that use additive technologies on a daily basis: 3YOURMIND, ColorFabb, Context, Dassault Systemes, HP, Materialize, Renault, Volvo Trucks, XACT Metal, or Xerox. I was also among the lecturers, representing our other company, GREENFILL3D. Together with Pierre Gonnetan from Arkema, Laure Jandet from ValorYeu, Thibaud Deshons from Pollen AM and host Pierre-Antoine Arrighi from Aniwaa, we talked about sustainable 3D printing, the use of bioplastics and recycled materials in production.
Regardless of all the above events, at the end, photos from two exhibitions: large-format 3D prints and clothes made with the use of additive technologies: