ABSTRACT
In most commercial Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes, component fabrication is accomplished by layered material addition where every layer has very constrained thickness and is a component section obtained from 3D computer aided design (CAD) data. There are a few standard steps that need to be followed for generating useful physical parts via the AM route. The process chain basically refers to the standard steps that needs to be followed in order to completely accomplish the part fabrication objective. This chapter covers the generalized AM process chain. Three-dimensional CAD modelling is the key enabler behind time compression engineering. An important point to remember is that the basic underlying principle in nearly all commercial AM modellers is layer-based. However, the main differences between AM machines consist in the basis of raw materials used, creation of layers and mechanism of bonding amongst layers. Most advanced AM packages have a validation and repair feature which ensures aptness of exported data.
