Additive Manufacturing (3D printing): Working Procedure

    Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is a newly emerging advancement in the fields of manufacturing, Material Science and Analytical Chemistry to manufacture lightweight and durable 3D objects. It is a technique where the 3D object to be printed, is designed by a Computer-Aided Designing and Modeling software. This design is processed and sliced digitally and material deposition done by the printer follows a layer-by-layer approach to print the object required until the final structure is created. 3D printing technology has a vast use in fields like aerospace and defense, medical uses, Consumer and industrial goods, Automotive industry, and Spectroscopy. 3D printing gained unprecedented attention in the early 2000s. This technology was vastly used in industries to fabricate special parts to create prototypes. Hence, it was also termed “Rapid Prototyping”. Newly developed 3D printers use Lasers, Electron beams, and Jets to print the designed object aesthetically pleasing with precise measurements. 3D printers can print objects from a variety of raw materials like Plastic, Powdered materials, Resin, Metals, Carbon Fiber, Graphite and Graphene, Ceramics, and many more. Plastics are extensively used for 3D printing as they are more suitable for shape, form, and melt.

    3D printers are used to construct objects by deposition of materials layer by layer following the CAD design, visual modeling, and simulation. The basic working procedure of 3D printing processes can be explained in three steps: 

    Using this kind of software support, the objects can be fabricated by different types of printing methods. The next blog will be about the operations and construction of different 3D printing systems and their accuracy.