(FUSED DEPOSITION MODELING) IS ONE OF THE RAPID PROTOTYPING TECHNOLOGIES.
In this method material (usually plastic: ABS, PLA, PCABS etc.) is heated to its melting point and then pressed through a special nozzle. The nozzle however is automatically moved over the building platform according to “CAD instructions” from STL file. The model is built layer by layer.
ADVANTAGES
Ability to produce large models in one printjob;
Many different materials (ABS, PLA, PCABS and other);
Tensile strength – up to 80% of injection molding details.
Low relative cost of printing (cheap materials);
One of the most popular 3D printing techniques nowadays.