CHAPTER 4

3D and 4D Printing

While the traditional way to manufacture something using a mold is to start with a block of some kind of material and then carve out the item, 3D printing falls under the category of additive manufacturing. That means a 3D printer manufactures an item by printing a thin layer composed of plastic or other materials and then repeating the process over and over until it creates a three-dimensional object. The printer follows a set of instructions created with a computer-assisted drawing program.

3D printers have been around since the 1980s in one form or another, but it is only within the past few years that the technology has improved to the point that they are attracting more than amateurs called makers. Just when ...

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