3D Printing Technology, Applications, and Selection

Abstract

3D printing (3DP), also known as additive manufacturing (AM) and rapid prototyping (RP), is a technology that takes information from a computer-aided design and “prints” it on a 3D printer, which creates a solid object by building up successive layers of material. The technology was developed in 1989 and, since then, has been expanding exponentially. Figure 1 shows the explosive growth of 3D printers in recent years. 3D printers are similar in many ways to RP machines except that they are cheaper (less than $5000.00), smaller, and sometimes, less accurate in terms of strength and surface finish. Commercial systems, such as stereolithography and fused deposition modeling, have passed into public domain.