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material properties that are a result of the manufacturing process . An important aspect to remember for this technology is that the material properties of the final component are a result of the process , in a similar way to a casting or injection moulding process , especially where thermal energy ( i . e . melting based ) processes are used .
These two aspects have seen the bulk of research and development activity for the last ten or so years , identifying ways of controlling the process to ensure part accuracy , distortion and the material properties of the components produced . In addition , there has been a need to improve on the variety and availability of materials for this process to enable production in varying sectors . An area that has seen large increases in materials development are the metallic processes , where once they were limited to a small range of steel and titanium alloys , the last ten years has seen a large increase in development , in aluminum , copper and even magnetic alloys . The polymer machines , especially those based on powder materials , have seen less development due to the material constraints and the ability to prototype small batches of material for research and development .
AM / 3DP has seen a cooling of prominence and some turmoil in the commercial arena over the last few years , however , the research agenda and the relevance of the
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