Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), is an additive manufacturing process involving the ejection of a thermoplastic material from a temperature controlled nozzle, layer by layer, to form a part.
The FDM process is capable of building fully functional parts in thermoplastic materials. Parts produced by FDM are durable and will have stable mechanical properties over time. The one drawback of this process is that the surface finish will not be as good as that of stereolithography models.