A Quick Reference Guide
Awareness of the working principles of additive manufacturing is foundational to understanding hybrid manufacturing.
To many, the term 3D printing conjures up only images of desktop polymer extrusion printers, but it embraces much more than that. In the last 30 years, the focus of 3D printing has grown from making prototypes using vats of resin and beds of powder, to include making production parts with metal and ceramics. These processes have collectively now become referred to as additive manufacturing (AM). Recent standardization activities by ASTM and ISO have grouped additive processes into seven categories.
We at Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies initially created this quick reference guide for internal employee training. It provides a basic illustration of each process and an overview description of how it works. Perhaps most conveniently, it helps map trade names and other terminology to technology families as standardized by ISO/ASTM. We are happy to share it externally and hope it will be useful for you.
