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TCT Asia

TCT Asia 2025: China's biggest 3D printing event - in pictures

TCT Asia 2025 has successfully completed its largest exhibition to date. Following last year's 10-year anniversary celebrations, this week the event cemented its position at China's definitive additive manufacturing showcase with a dizzying number of exhibitors, visitors, and technology launches - from multi-laser metals developments to never before seen applications. While we take a moment to catch our breath (before continuing the TCT world tour with trips to RAPID + TCT and TCT 3Sixty), here's just a snapshot of some of the new hardware from China-based OEMs and parts from the show floor.

Crowds line up to enter the NECC, Shanghai for 2025 edition of TCT Asia, China's biggest 3D printing and additive manufacturing event, with 36,000 pre-registered visitors eager to see the latest from more than 450 exhibitors.

TCT Asia never fails to deliver on metal additive manufacturing developments. Eplus3D, known for its multi-laser metal powder bed fusion technology, demonstrated its capabilities in copper and copper alloy 3D printing, which have been enabled by process optimisations that overcome the common challenges associated with copper’s low absorption and high reflectivity for red laser-powered AM.

One world premiere is good but how about three? Jiangsu Harson Smart Manufacture Tech Co.,Ltd presented a trio of metal laser sintering systems including the 220-B, 600-C and 600-A. The 600-A is a medium-sized, high-precision system notable for its build plate capable of reaching temperatures up to 350° C to address cracking in refractory metals, while the 600-C builds upon this with further optimisations for rapid manufacturing of complex parts. The 220B is a compact, dual-laser system integrating a printer and filtration system.

The trend for large-format metal 3D printing continued this year across the exhibition floor. While its most famous application may be the tiny high precision parts on board the Honor Magic V2 foldable phone, HBD Additive Manufacturing flexed its large-format laser powder bed fusion capabilities with a number of parts including a liquid rocket engine demonstrator, printed as a monolithic stainless steel part with integrated cooling channels using the HBD E1000. 

Shenzhen Addireen Technologies, the company behind China's first green laser metal AM solution, introduced its newest system, the XH-M660G system. The M660G carries a build volume of 660 x 660 x 1300 mm and features four self-developed single-mode green fibre lasers, bidirectional recoating and precision optical calibration for processing of materials such as pure copper and copper alloy at speeds between 65-140 cm³/h. The company says its green laser technology provides 10 times the absorption when printing with highly reflective alloys. Addireen is also heading to RAPID + TCT in Detroit next month.

After dominating the entry-level machine sector in the last quarter as the top vendor in its class, per figures from CONTEXT, Creality kicked off its its 11th anniversary celebrations at TCT Asia 2025. With recent launches such as the large Ender-5 Max, featuring a 400 x 400 x 400 mm build volume and speeds of 700 mm/s that are said to be geared towards print farms, alongside platforms like the Creality Hi, which has been designed for beginners, the company emphasised why it has become a force to be reckoned with amongst entry-level hardware vendors.

From the event that first gave us the famous 3D printed wedding dress from Shanghai design studio Xuberance, TCT Asia always guarantees a wealth of creative applications, such as these beautiful polymer light fixtures, that demonstrate the possibilities of 3D printing in industries away from the expected lightweight aerospace parts and automotive heat exchangers that tend to command most trade show floors.

Hunan Vanguard Co. Ltd., a long-established manufacturing company, debuted three machines built on different metal AM processes. The VM650 can be configured as a four or six-laser system with a substantial 650 x 650 x 750 mm build volume and speeds up to 150 cm³/h. The VM400 (pictured) features four lasers and a smaller 400mm × 400mm × 400mm build size with a max print speed of 100 cm³/h. The VBJ200, meanwhile, is described as an ‘Adhesive Jetting’ system with a 200 x 65 x 100 mm build box boasting speeds of 0.11-0.71 litres per hour and print resolutions up to 1200 DPI for parts made from stainless steel, high-temperature and tungsten alloys. 

This year's adjacent TCT Asia Summit adopted the theme of "Application Driven Change". A roster of speakers from the healthcare sector kicked off the agenda, including Vishwanath Nayak, Principal Engineer, CT Hardware Platform at GE Healthcare Application who presented insights on deploying 3D printing to overcome challenges and enable affordable solutions in medical device manufacturing. 

At last year's TCT Asia, UnionTech highlighted use cases in the automotive industry and its unique tyre moulding applications. One year on, the company launched a new machine specifically aimed at that application: the RA900 stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer. The RA900 boasts a substantial build volume of 950 x 550 x 400 mm, enough for simultaneous printing of four medium-sized tyre moulds.

Another strong contender in the entry-level price class, Elegoo, which marks its 10th anniversary this Spring, showcased its Centauri carbon FDM system, which features a fully enclosed chamber and dual-sided build plate, making it compatible with a wide range of high-temperature materials. It also presented its full range of low-cost Saturn LCD printers, including the new Saturn 4 Ultra 16K, which includes a 10-inch 16K Mono LCD screen and smart tank heating at 30°C, for better fluidity and layer adhesion.

Raise3D has built its reputation on FDM technology, expanding into Digital Light Processing (DLP) and then metals with BASF Forward AM’s metal filament compatibility and the launch of its S200-C vacuum sintering furnace. This year, the company pivoted once again by unveiling its first selective laser sintering (SLS) platform, the Raise3D RMS220 Series. Describing the system as a ‘powerful selective laser sintering production system, optimised for productivity, stability, and easy to use and maintenance’, the RMS220 is pitched as a high-speed platform with a max throughput of up to 5kg/day in a range of engineering plastics and composites. The company also launched an upgrade to its DLP technology, the Raise3D DF2+. Compared to its predecessor, the DF2+ is said to provide finer and smoother parts at much faster speeds.

Raise3D CEO Edward Feng also kicked off this year's C-Suite View with a presentation focused on the transformative power of additive manufacturing in scaling electric vehicle (EV) production. Feng was later joined by company leaders Xiaofan Luo, CEO at Polymaker, David Zhou, General Manager at ZRapid Technologies Co., Ltd, and Fried Vancraen, Chairman of the Board at Materialise for a panel session led by Kitty Wang, Founder of 3D Science Valley.

Bright Laser Technologies has typically gone big on machine launches at TCT Asia. This year, with the biggest booth on the show floor, the Chinese OEM did give us two new pieces of hardware - the 32-laser BLT-S1025 and upgraded BLT-S400 - but it was the accompanying applications that drew the most curiosity. Prior to the show, the company revealed its technology was behind the flexion hinge within Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer OPPO’s latest foldable phone (which you'll be able to see parts from at RAPID + TCT in Detroit), and BLT emphasised its foray into consumer goods such as eyewear, jewellery, and a new hinge for a well-known laptop brand. However, the company made sure to highlight its large-format technologies with a gallery of industrial parts that emphasise its competitive build volumes.

Finally, Adam Zhu, INT Physical Model Manager at Volvo Shanghai Design Studio closed the conference with a discussion on the adoption of 3D printing as the rapid prototyping solution for the automotive studio and the efficiencies it has afforded its rapid prototyping efforts.

More technology round-ups from TCT Asia:

We'll have more from TCT Asia 2025 in the coming days including details on next year's edition. In the meantime, you can register your interest in TCT Shenzhen which will take place across September 10-12, 2025 at the SZCEC, Shenzhen, China.

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Exhibit at the UK's definitive and most influential 3D printing and additive manufacturing event, TCT 3Sixty.

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