3D Printing

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, refers to processes used to synthesize a three-dimensional object in which successive layers of material are formed under computer control to create an object.

Computer Numeric Control is the automation of machine tools that are operated by precisely programmed commands encoded on a storage medium as opposed to controlled manually by hand wheels or levers, or mechanically automated by cams alone.

Three-dimensional space is a geometric setting in which three values are required to determine the position of an element.

Objects can be of almost any shape or geometry and are produced from digital model data 3D model or another electronic data source such as an Additive Manufacturing File file.

In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical representation of any three-dimensional surface of an object via specialized software.

Futurologist Jeremy Rifkin claimed that 3D printing or AM signals the beginning of a third industrial revolution, succeeding the production line assembly that dominated manufacturing starting in the late 19th century.

Futurists or futurologists are scientists and social scientists whose specialty is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities about the future and how they can emerge from the present, whether that of human society in particular or of life on Earth in general.

A production line is a set of sequential operations established in a factory whereby materials are put through a refining process to produce an end-product that is suitable for onward consumption; or components are assembled to make a finished article.

Jeremy Rifkin is an American economic and social theorist, writer, public speaker, political advisor, and activist.

The term 3D printing has its origin sense, 3D printing in reference to a process that deposits a binder material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads layer by layer.

Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper, plastic, or other substrates.

In linguistics, a word sense is one of the meanings of a word.

More recently, the term is being used in popular vernacular to encompass a wider variety of additive manufacturing techniques.

United States and global Technical standards use the official term additive manufacturing for this broader sense.

A technical standard is an established norm or requirement in regard to technical systems.

ISO/ASTM52900-15 defines seven categories of AM processes within its meaning: Binder Jetting, Directed Energy Deposition, Material Extrusion, Material Jetting, Powder Bed Fusion, Sheet Lamination and Vat Photopolymerization.

In polymer chemistry, polymerization is a process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form polymer chains or three-dimensional networks.

A photopolymer is a polymer that changes its properties when exposed to light, often in the ultraviolet or visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum.