Direct Part Production Through Polymer Large-Format Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing is enabling the next generation of customized and geometric products; however, one area that stands to provide dramatic benefits to niche applications is large-format additive manufacturing – particularly with the cost-effective polymer families of feedstock. Although most of the current commercial applications are confined to molds and dies (tooling), many interesting applications of direct end-use applications exist, which leverage the digital customization and complex, unique geometries brought to bear by additive manufacturing. The chapter comprehensively explores polymer large-format additive manufacturing in terms of hardware, materials, software (simulation and slicing), and applications.