ABSTRACT
Concept of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies emerged from the term “rapid prototyping” that was widely used for reduction of process time to facilitate rapid creation of parts which were to be subsequently fabricated and commercialized. It involves development of an idea/software/part, that may either have manufacturing or management functionality, in a piecewise manner, directly from digital inputs, which allows several design iterations and testing before full-fledged manufacturing. Development of AM technologies was gradual over the first decade of its advent. However, owing to advancements in manufacturing, associated technologies, customer expectations and global markets, the development rates have witnessed a huge upsurge. AM technology has grown leaps and bounds and it possesses the ability to complement as well as substitute conventional manufacturing in a wide variety of ways. Numerous different AM techniques are known. The twenty-first century saw a shift in the AM applications paradigm from research and development and prototyping to industrial and functional part fabrication.
