2. The benefits of additive manufacturing

2.1 Introduction to additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) is defined in the standard NF EN ISO/ASTM 52900 as representing a set of processes for manufacturing parts by assembling materials, usually layer by layer, from digital models representing the parts in 3 dimensions. These processes are therefore the opposite of subtractive manufacturing methods (such as machining). There is a wide variety of processes, depending on the nature of the materials used (metals, thermoplastics, photopolymerizable...