
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer control, with material being added together (such as plastics, liquids or powder grains being fused), typically layer by layer.
Additive Manufacturing (AM), commonly referred to as 3D printing or rapid prototyping, is the process of fabricating three-dimensional solid objects directly from digital CAD models or 3D datasets. The process relies on the precise, successive deposition, joining, or solidification of material layer-by-layer through controlled thermal energy, photo-polymerization, or chemical binding agent application.
Key industrial 3D printing and additive manufacturing process classifications include Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM / FFF), Stereolithography (SLA), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Digital Light Processing (DLP), Multi Jet Fusion (MJF), and MultiJet Printing (MJP).