E – 2025 Introduction to Processes & Best Practices Of 3D Printing

The purpose of this course is to introduce general explanation of 3D printing, 3D printing procedure, Various types of 3D printing processes, Materials & Applications.  It does not cover “How to 3D print”.

With the advent of computers in 1950s and internet in 1990s, the fundamental way of doing things has through a massive change. These technologies made our lives better, opened up new avenues and possibilities and gave us a hope for the future. But it generally takes decades for an ecosystem to be built across a particular technology to take it to masses and achieve the truly disruptive nature of that technology.

It is widely believed that 3D printing or additive manufacturing (AM) has the vast potential to become one of these technologies. There is a lot of coverage on 3D printing across many television channels, newspapers and online resources. Now What really is this 3D printing that some have claimed will put an end to traditional manufacturing as we know it? Revolutionize design and impose geopolitical, economic, social, demographic and environmental and security implications to our everyday lives.

The most basic, differentiating principle behind 3D printing technology is that it is an additive manufacturing process. And this is indeed the key because 3D printing is a radically different manufacturing method based on advanced technology that builds up parts, additively, in layers at the sub mm scale. This is fundamentally different from any other existing traditional manufacturing techniques.