Additive Manufacturing Terminology

Question 1

3D printer

Answer 1

a machine used for 3D printing

Question 2

3D printing

Answer 2

the fabrication of objects through the deposition
of a material using a print head, nozzle, or another
printer technology

Question 3

3D scanning

Answer 3

a method of acquiring the shape and size of
an object as a 3-dimensional representation by recording
x,y,z coordinates on the object’s surface and through software
the collection of points is converted into digital data

Question 4

additive manufacturing

Answer 4

—a process of joining materials
to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon
layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies.
Synonyms: additive fabrication, additive processes,
additive techniques, additive layer manufacturing, layer
manufacturing, and freeform fabrication

Question 5

additive systems

Answer 5

machines used for additive manufacturing

Question 6

binder jetting

Answer 6

an additive manufacturing process in which
a liquid bonding agent is selectively deposited to join
powder materials

Question 7

direct metal laser sintering (DMLS®)

Answer 7

—a powder bed
fusion process used to make metal parts directly from metal
powders without intermediate “green” or “brown” parts;
term denotes metal-based laser sintering systems from EOS
GmbH - Electro Optical Systems. Synonym: direct metal
laser melting

Question 8

directed energy deposition

Answer 8

an additive manufacturing
process in which focused thermal energy is used to fuse
materials by melting as they are being deposited

Question 9

facet

Answer 9

—typically a three- or four-sided polygon that represents
an element of a 3D polygonal mesh surface or model;
triangular facets are used in STL files

Question 10

fused deposition modeling (FDM®)

Answer 10

a material extrusion
process used to make thermoplastic parts through heated
extrusion and deposition of materials layer by layer; term
denotes machines built by Stratasys, Inc

Question 11

laser sintering (LS)

Answer 11

a powder bed fusion process used to
produce objects from powdered materials using one or more
lasers to selectively fuse or melt the particles at the surface,
layer by layer, in an enclosed chamber

Question 12

material extrusion

Answer 12

an additive manufacturing process in
which material is selectively dispensed through a nozzle or
orifice

Question 13

material jetting

Answer 13

—an additive manufacturing process in

which droplets of build material are selectively deposited

Question 14

powder bed fusion

Answer 14

an additive manufacturing process in
which thermal energy selectively fuses regions of a powder
bed

Question 15

prototype tooling

Answer 15

molds, dies, and other devices used to
produce prototypes; sometimes referred to as bridge tooling
or soft tooling

Question 16

rapid prototyping

Answer 16

additive manufacturing of a design,
often iterative, for form, fit, or functional testing, or combination
thereof

Question 17

rapid tooling

Answer 17

the use of additive manufacturing to make
tools or tooling quickly, either directly, by making parts that
serve as the actual tools or tooling components, such as mold
inserts, or indirectly, by producing patterns that are, in turn,
used in a secondary process to produce the actual tools

Question 18

rapid tooling

Answer 18

in machining processes, the production of
tools or tooling quickly by subtractive manufacturing methods,
such as CNC milling

Question 19

reverse engineering

Answer 19

in additive manufacturing, method of
creating a digital representation from a physical object to
define its shape, dimensions, and internal and external
features.

Question 20

selective laser sintering (SLS®)

Answer 20

denotes the LS process

and machines from 3D Systems Corporation

Question 21

sheet lamination

Answer 21

an additive manufacturing process in

which sheets of material are bonded to form an object

Question 22

stereolithography (SL)

Answer 22

—a vat photopolymerization process
used to produce parts from photopolymer materials in a
liquid state using one or more lasers to selectively cure to a
predetermined thickness and harden the material into shape
layer upon layer

Question 23

stereolithography apparatus (SLA®)

Answer 23

denotes the SL

machines from 3D Systems Corporation

Question 24

subtractive manufacturing

Answer 24

making objects by removing
of material (for example, milling, drilling, grinding, carving,
etc.) from a bulk solid to leave a desired shape, as opposed
to additive manufacturing

Question 25

surface model

Answer 25

a mathematical or digital representation of
an object as a set of planar or curved surfaces, or both, that
may or may not represent a closed volume

Question 26

tool, tooling

Answer 26

—a mold, die, or other device used in various
manufacturing and fabricating processes such as plastic
injection molding, thermoforming, blow molding, vacuum
casting, die casting, sheet metal stamping, hydroforming,
forging, composite lay-up tools, machining and assembly
fixtures, etc

Question 27

vat photopolymerization

Answer 27

—an additive manufacturing process
in which liquid photopolymer in a vat is selectively
cured by light-activated polymerization

Question 28

CAD

Answer 28

Computer-Aided Design. The use of computers for

the design of real or virtual objects

Question 29

CAM

Answer 29

Computer-Aided Manufacturing. Typically refers to
systems that use surface data to drive CNC machines, such
as digitally-driven mills and lathes, to produce parts, molds,
and dies

Question 30

CNC

Answer 30

Computer Numerical Control. Computerized control

of machines for manufacturing

Question 31

IGES

Answer 31

—Initial Graphics Exchange Specification, a platform
neutral CAD data exchange format intended for exchange of
product geometry and geometry annotation information;
IGES version 5.3 was superseded by ISO 10303, STEP in
2006.

Question 32

PDES

Answer 32

Product Data Exchange Specification or Product

Data Exchange using STEP.

Question 33

STEP

Answer 33

Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data.

Question 34

STL

Answer 34

file format for 3D model
data used by machines to build physical parts; STL is the de
facto standard interface for additive manufacturing systems.
STL originated from the term stereolithography.