Additive manufacturing, by definition, is a process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer. Compared with subtractive manufacturing, in which the unwanted material is removed, instead, materials are added continuously layer by layer in the additive manufacturing process.
This unique feature brings about a lot of merits to AM, such as easy manufacturing of complex geometrical models, reduction of raw material waste and efficient time-to-market. Because of such attractive advantages, a variety of industries such as automotive, aerospace, sports and health care/life sciences are increasingly looking to exploit its benefits. Polymeric materials constitute approximately 50 percent of the total market share, of which rigid polymers take up the majority of the market share.