What is Additive Manufacturing?
Additive manufacturing is what we commonly call "3D printing", which refers to any process of printing three-dimensional objects. Additive manufacturing is a process of adding materials continuously from the bottom layer through computer control. Any shape or geometrical feature can be printed, which in turn produces complex shapes that cannot be produced by traditional machining methods.
The complexity, cost, process, and time of additive manufacturing are very different from the general traditional process methods. As the complexity of the product increases, the cost will increase relatively in the general traditional manufacturing process, however, additive manufacturing is a process growing out of nothing, therefore, the cost of the manufacturing will depend on the number of materials used in the process. In terms of efficiency, with the advancement of technology, new technologies can reduce the process of additive manufacturing from hours to minutes.
In fact, there were many 3D printing methods in the late 1970s. The initial 3D printers were expensive, cumbersome, and very limited in their ability to print.
Afterward, many incremental technology inputs were developed into extrusion type, metal circuit type, particle type, powder inkjet needle type, additive type, and photopolymerization type according to different processes.