Rapid prototyping is a new name for a group of techniques that have largely been developed during the last ten years. They involve producing parts by adding layers of material on top of each other to build a complete model. The research involved on these techniques is mainly being undertaken in North America, Europe and Japan, with many new advances occurring each year. There is still much scope for work in developing new rapid prototyping techniques and applications for the parts produced from them. The impact of these techniques on manufacturing is only just being recognized, but during the next few years academia and industry will accept them as a valuable addition.
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