Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, is an exciting technology rapidly growing in popularity due to 3D printers becoming more affordable. You can’t read an article about 3D printing without coming across many abbreviations, acronyms, jargon and terminology. The additive manufacturing industry is full of them. The introduction and disappearance of new processes, abbreviations and acronyms are a healthy part of technological advancement in the field and its evolution.
Therefore, I have listed some of the most common acronyms, abbreviations and glossary terms used in the industry so that you’ve got all the information in one place for effortless future reference. You can read how 3D printing technologies are categorised into seven groups and how they all generally follow very similar steps to create a 3D object.
Hopefully, the following terms and their short description will shed some light and give you a basic idea.
Acronyms, Abbreviations & Glossary
| 3D file / 3D model | It is an electronic file representing a three-dimensional object created either by 3D modelling software or a 3D scanner |
| 3DP | 3D printing or 3-dimensional printing – refers to Additive Manufacturing |
| 3SP | Envision tec’s patented scan, spin & selectively photocuring technique to create 3D prints |
| ABS | Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene is an opaque thermoplastic and amorphous polymer. |
| AM | Additive Manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, in which a 3D object is fabricated by adding layer-upon-layer of material and fusing them – learn more here |
| BJ | Binder Jetting is a 3D printing technique in which a binding liquid is selectively deposited to join powder material to form a 3D part – learn more here. |
| Bridge | Print sections are supported at both ends but not in the middle. |
| Bowden tube | Bowden tube or sometimes called Bowden cable, guides filament from the feeder to the print head on material extrusion printers |
| Build envelope | Build envelope is the maximum volume the printer can print and determines how large an object the printer can build |
| Build plate | Also known as the Build platform or Bed, it is the surface or area of the 3D printer on which parts are formed. |
| CAD | Computer-Aided Design |
| CAM | Computer-Aided Manufacturing |
| CDLP | Continuous Direct Light Processing is part of the vat photopolymerization AM method, where a photopolymer liquid resin is cured to make hard plastic parts. |
| CNC | Computer Numerical Control |
| Cura | Cura is an open-source 3D printer slicing application used and optimised for Ultimaker printers – more here. |
| DED | Direct Energy Deposition – It is one of the additive manufacturing techniques where focused thermal energy such as a laser, electron beam, or plasma arc is used to fuse materials by melting as they are being deposited – Learn more here |
| DLP | Direct Light Processing is part of the vat photopolymerization AM method, where a photopolymer liquid resin is cured to make hard plastic parts. |
| DMD | Direct Metal Deposition |
| DMLS | Direct Metal Laser Sintering – Learn more here |
| DOD | Drop-On-Demand |
| EBAM | Electron Beam Additive Manufacture |
| EBM | Electron Beam Melting |
| Extruder | Using two counter-rotating gripping wheels, a 3D printer head module pushes the filament through the Bowden tube to the hot end. |
| FDM | Fused Deposition Modeling |
| FFF | Fused Filament Fabrication |
| Filament | FDM printers operate by melting a plastic filament, which is typically made of either ABS or PLA |
| Fill / Infill | The interior structure of a 3D-printed object. To avoid wasting time and material by printing solid objects, the interior of the objects is printed with a mesh-type structure. The infill is typically expressed as a percentage (e.g. 10% infill). |
| G-code | G-code is the file format used to store information that can be interpreted by CNC machines and 3D printers. |
| GDP | Gel Dispensing 3D Printing technology that utilizes movement similar to what is used in FDM systems while working with a UV-sensitive material that hardens when exposed to UV light |
| GF | Glass-Filled |
| Hot end | The material extrusion method of additive manufacturing uses a material extruder that gets hot enough to melt plastic or other materials. |
| Kapton tape | Heat-resistant polyimide adhesive tape. Often used in material extrusion printers to cover the surface of the print bed to provide better adhesion to the 3D printed model and prevent it from warping. |
| LCM | Lithography-based Ceramic Manufacturing is a process for the additive manufacturing of high-performance ceramics |
| LENS | Laser Engineered Net Shape |
| LMD | Laser Metal Deposition, a printing process which casts and fuses metal with a laser beam |
| LOM | Laminated Object Manufacturing |
| LS | Laser Sintering |
| Material Extrusion | 3d printing, where a continuous filament of thermoplastic is used to construct 3D parts. Learn more here |
| Mesh | meaning the dividing of a model into basic blocks or structures that are small and simple enough to do calculations on them |
| Micron | a unit of length equal to one millionth of a metre |
| MJ | Material Jetting |
| MJF | Multi Jet Fusion |
| Netfabb | A commercial 3D print preparation application, Netfabb can prepare, repair and slice 3D models in preparation for printing. Learn more here www.netfabb.com |
| Nozzle | The part of the hot end of the printer deposits the melted plastic material. |
| NPJ | NanoParticle Jetting |
| OBJ | Object file – A geometry definition file format from 3D modelling programs commonly used in 3D printing. |
| Overhang | Parts or features of a 3D model that protrudes or overhangs at an angle over 45 degrees without any support below when orientated on the build platform are generally categorised as overhangs. |
| PA | Polyamide |
| PBF | Powder Bed Fusion |
| PC | Polycarbonate |
| Photopolymer | A polymer that changes its properties when exposed to light. |
| PIM | Plastic injection moulding |
| PLA | Polylactic Acid – A biodegradable thermoplastic polymer made from plant starch, used as a 3D printer material. |
| Polyjet | It is one of the 3d printing techniques which fall under Material jetting |
| PP | Polypropylene |
| PVA | Polyvinyl Alcohol – A water-soluble filament often used as support material in 3D printing. |
| Raft | The raft is a removable filament latticework printed horizontally onto the build platform as support to minimise warping. The raft is larger than the part, hence better adhesion, and removed and discarded after printing. Rafts are commonly used with ABS material extrusion-type printers. |
| RE | Reverse Engineering is the process in which an engineering product is deconstructed to understand its designs and to extract knowledge about its working principle. |
| RepRap | Short for Replicating Rapid Prototyper, it is the first low-cost general-purpose self-replicating manufacturing/3D printing machine. |
| RM | Rapid Manufacturing |
| RP | Rapid Prototyping |
| RT | Rapid Tooling |
| Sheet lamination | One of the seven additive manufacturing techniques |
| .amf | Additive Manufacturing File |
| Shell | Also referred to it as the outline or outer perimeter, this describes the outermost wall of the printed 3D object |
| SHS | Selective heat sintering |
| SL | Stereolithography is an AM technology which produces parts using a process called photopolymerization – refer more @ Vat Photopolymerization |
| SLA | Stereolithography Apparatus |
| Slicer / Slice | This is software to convert the digital 3D file into machine-readable code. The slicer cuts the model into thin horizontal layers called slices and generates tool paths in the two-dimensional plane. |
| SLM | Selective Laser Melting |
| SLS | Selective Laser Sintering |
| STL/.stl | known as the Stereolithographic file, it is the most common file format 3D printers use. |
| Support / Support material | 3D objects with large overhangs or gaps require removable supports to stop them from collapsing during printing. In some instances, these are printed using different materials than the main part material. |
| Thermoplastic | They are a type of plastic material which becomes soft when heated above a specific temperature and hardens when cooled. |
| TPU | Thermoplastic Polyurethane |
| Vat Photopolymerization | Vat photopolymerization is an AM method where a light source is used to cure photopolymer liquid resin and turn it into hard plastic parts. |
| Voxel | In 3D printing, a voxel represents a value on a regular grid in a three-dimensional space, like a pixel with volume. |
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