1.2 Why is this course not called 3D printing?

This is a contentious point. Should engineers and designers talk about AM or 3D printing? Does it depend on who they are talking to?

Additive manufacturing and the manufacturing techniques that fall under the umbrella of AM are commonly referred to by a number of terms. More significant than the label ‘rapid prototyping’ has been the adoption of ‘3D printing’ as a blanket label for all AM techniques. ‘3D printing’ is technically incorrect because it is a specific technology using print heads to deposit polymer in a 3D fashion and not a term that should be used for all AM techniques.

The mass media has adopted the term 3D printing because of the similarities with consumer technologies, and so it can be visualised by the general public. Other labels and brand names coined in the infancy of AM have lingered but to a lesser extent.

However, engineers need a more robust terminology. In this course, additive manufacturing has been chosen as the term to use for two reasons:

• It is the term which satisfactorily describes the sector of manufacturing described in this course.
• A committee set up by the American Society for Materials and Testing (ASTM) agreed – in standard ASTM F2792-12a Standard Terminology for Additive Manufacturing Technologies (ASTM, 2012) – that additive manufacturing would be the umbrella term.