---
title: Where does the name WAAM come from?
description: WAAM was coined as an acronym around 2010 in the Welding Engineering and Laser Processing Centre at Cranfield University
---

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# Where does the name WAAM come from?

## WAAM was coined as an acronym around 2010 in the Welding Engineering and Laser Processing Centre at Cranfield University

The process described by the WAAM acronym is known in several other ways: AW-DED, Additive Layer Manufacture, Buttering, Digital manufacture, Metal Rapid Prototyping, Net shape manufacture, Net shape engineering, Shaped deposition manufacturing, Shaped melting, Shaped Metal Deposition, Shape Melting Technology, Shape welding, Solid freeform fabrication, plus several more. It was in the Welding Engineering and Laser Processing Centre, Cranfield University that WAAM was coined as an acronym around 2010. It then became featured regularly in the group’s academic publications, finally becoming a registered trademark in 2016.

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