Seven Fundamental Additive Manufacturing Processes
Binder Jetting: A process in which a selectively deposited liquid bonding agent is used to bind powdered materials into a desired shape
Directed Energy Deposition: A process that fuses material using a focused energy source, such as a laser or electron beam, to selectively melt the material into a desired shape
Material Extrusion: A process in which material is forced through a nozzle or orifice to selectively build a desired shape
Material Jetting: A process where droplets of material are selectively dispensed through a print-head to deposit a desired shape
Powder Bed Fusion: A process in which thermal energy, such as a laser or electron beam, is used to fuse select regions of powder material in a bed
Sheet Lamination: A process where objects are constructed by bonding sheets of material
Vat Photopolymerization: A process where light-activated polymerization is used to selectively cure liquid photopolymer in a vat
(ASTM F2792-12a)
Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a term describing a set of processes used to build objects, layer-by-layer, from 3D model data by joining materials. Additive Manufacturing opposes subtractive manufacturing.