Abstract
In this paper, we present a study on a growing technological sector – additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing, also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing, presents a novel manufacturing process that builds layers to create a three-dimensional solid object from a digital model. 3D printing stands to completely transform manufacturing industry as well as to disrupt related major industries. The topic has been surrounded with lot of hype when predicting future application scope, so in this paper we open discussion on the trends and present societal, environmental and ethical implications pertaining to this technology sector.