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Magnesium alloys, renowned for their lightweight yet high-strength characteristics, with exceptional mechanical properties, are highly coveted for numerous applications. The emergence of magnesium alloy additive manufacturing (Mg AM) has further propelled their popularity, offering advantages such as unparalleled precision, swift production rates, enhanced design freedom, and optimized material utilization. This technology holds immense potential in fabricating intricate geometries, complex internal structures, and performance-tailored microstructures, enabling groundbreaking applications. In this paper, we delve into the core processes and pivotal influencing factors of the current techniques employed in Mg AM, including selective laser melting (SLM), electron beam melting (EBM), wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), binder jetting (BJ), friction stir additive manufacturing (FSAM), and indirect additive manufacturing (I-AM). Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) excels in precision but is limited by a low deposition rate and chamber size; WAAM offers cost-effectiveness, high efficiency, and scalability for large components; BJ enables precise material deposition for customized parts with environmental benefits; FSAM achieves fine grain sizes, low defect rates, and potential for precision products; and I-AM boasts a high build rate and industrial adaptability but is less studied recently. This paper attempts to explore the possibilities and challenges for future research in AM. Among them, two issues are how to mix different AM applications and how to use the integration of Internet technologies, machine learning, and process modeling with AM, which are innovative breakthroughs in AM.

The quality of powder used in powder bed-based additive manufacturing plays a key role concerning process performance and end part properties. Even though this is a generally accepted fact, there is still a lack of a comprehensive understanding of the powder property–part property relationship. However, numerous investigations focusing on selected powder properties and their corresponding influence on process aspects or final part properties have been published in recent years. Still, generalized statements on powder requirements for a defined process performance are not available. This can be attributed to the fact that the community has not yet come to an agreement which characterization techniques are most suitable for powder characterization in the additive manufacturing context and in most cases only selected aspects have been investigated for special powder materials. The aim of this review is to assess these building blocks of knowledge and to provide an overview on the current state of the art.

The emerging technology of wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) has been enthusiastically embraced in recent years mainly by the welding community to fabricate various grades of structural materials. In this study, ER70S-6 low-carbon low-alloy steel wall was manufactured by WAAM method, utilizing a gas metal arc welding (GMAW) torch translated by a six-axis robotic arm, and employing advanced surface tension transfer (STT) mode. The dominant microstructure of the fabricated part contained randomly oriented fine polygonal ferrite and a low-volume fraction of lamellar pearlite as the primary micro-constituents. Additionally, a small content of bainite and acicular ferrite were also detected along the melt-pool boundaries, where the material undergoes a faster cooling rate during solidification in comparison with the center of the melt pool. Mechanical properties of the part, studied at different orientations relative to the building direction, revealed a comparable tensile strength along the deposition (horizontal) direction and the building (vertical) direction of the fabricated part (~ 400 MPa and ~ 500 MPa for the yield and ultimate tensile strengths, respectively). However, the obtained plastic tensile strain at failure along the horizontal direction was nearly three times higher than that of the vertical direction, implying some extent of anisotropy in ductility. The reduced ductility of the part along the building direction was associated with the higher density of the interpass regions and the melt-pool boundaries in the vertical direction, containing heat-affected zones with coarser grain structure, brittle martensite–austenite constituent, and possibly a higher density of discontinuities.

The last few decades have seen rapid growth in additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. AM has implemented a novel method of production in design, manufacture, and delivery to end-users. Accordingly, AM technologies have given great flexibility in design for building complex components, highly customized products, effective waste minimization, high material variety, and sustainable products. This review paper addresses the evolution of engineering design to take advantage of the opportunities provided by AM and its applications. It discusses issues related to the design of cellular and support structures, build orientation, part consolidation and assembly, materials, part complexity, and product sustainability.

Wire + arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is a versatile, low-cost, energy-efficient technology used in metal additive manufacturing. This WAAM process uses arc welding to melt a wire and form a three-dimensional (3D) object using a layer-by-layer stacking mechanism. In the present study, a Ni-based superalloy wire, i.e., Inconel 625, is melted and deposited additively through a cold metal transfer (CMT)-based WAAM process. The deposited specimens were heat-treated at 980 °C (the recommended temperature for stress-relief annealing) for 30, 60, and 120 min and then water quenched to investigate the effect of heat treatment on microstructure and phase transformation and to identify the optimum heat treatment condition. Microstructural results show that the heat treatment, in general, eliminates the brittle Laves phases regardless of the time without changing the grain morphology. However, an increment in the amount of the delta phase is observed with the longer heat treatment periods. Additionally, the size of MC (metal carbide) of Nb is also observed to increase with heat treatment time. This study provides an in-depth understanding of the correlation between heat treatment time and microstructure in additively manufactured Inconel 625, which can facilitate determining the optimum heat treatment condition in a later study.

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing is a Direct Energy Deposition additive technology that uses the principle of wire welding to deposit layers of material to create a finished component. This technology is finding an increasing interest in the manufacturing industry, especially thanks the low cost and the possibility to build large-scale components. Nowadays, the boosting to transition into smart manufacturing systems and the increasingly computational resources allowed the development of intelligent applications for smart production systems for both in situ inspection and process parameter control. This paper aims to provide an review of applications developed using artificial intelligence techniques for Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing, with particular focus on defect detection software modules, feedback generation for control system and innovative control strategies as reinforcement learning to overcome problems related to model non-linearity and uncertainties.

Metal additive manufacturing technologies, such as powder bed fusion process, directed energy deposition (DED) process, sheet lamination process, etc., are one of promising flexible manufacturing technologies due to direct fabrication characteristics of a metallic freeform with a three-dimensional shape from computer aided design data. DED processes can create an arbitrary shape on even and uneven substrates through line-by-line deposition of a metallic material. Theses DED processes can easily fabricate a heterogeneous material with desired properties and characteristics via successive and simultaneous depositions of different materials. In addition, a hybrid process combining DED with different manufacturing processes can be conveniently developed. Hence, researches on the DED processes have been steadily increased in recent years. This paper reviewed recent research trends of DED processes and their applications. Principles, key technologies and the state-of-the art related to the development of process and system, the optimization of deposition conditions and the application of DED process were discussed. Finally, future research issues and opportunities of the DED process were identified.

In recent years, Additive Manufacturing (AM), also called 3D printing, has been expanding into several industrial sectors due to the technology providing opportunities in terms of improved functionality, productivity, and competitiveness. While metal AM technologies have almost unlimited potential, and the range of applications has increased in recent years, industries have faced challenges in the adoption of these technologies and coping with a turbulent market. Despite the extensive work that has been completed on the properties of metal AM materials, there is still a need of a robust understanding of processes, challenges, application-specific needs, and considerations associated with these technologies. Therefore, the goal of this study is to present a comprehensive review of the most common metal AM technologies, an exploration of metal AM advancements, and industrial applications for the different AM technologies across various industry sectors. This study also outlines current limitations and challenges, which prevent industries to fully benefit from the metal AM opportunities, including production volume, standards compliance, post processing, product quality, maintenance, and materials range. Overall, this paper provides a survey as the benchmark for future industrial applications and research and development projects, in order to assist industries in selecting a suitable AM technology for their application.

Additive manufacturing has revolutionized the manufacturing paradigm in recent years due to the possibility of creating complex shaped three-dimensional parts which can be difficult or impossible to obtain by conventional manufacturing processes. Among the different additive manufacturing techniques, wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is suitable to produce large metallic parts owing to the high deposition rates achieved, which are significantly larger than powder-bed techniques, for example. The interest in WAAM is steadily increasing, and consequently, significant research efforts are underway. This review paper aims to provide an overview of the most significant achievements in WAAM, highlighting process developments and variants to control the microstructure, mechanical properties, and defect generation in the as-built parts; the most relevant engineering materials used; the main deposition strategies adopted to minimize residual stresses and the effect of post-processing heat treatments to improve the mechanical properties of the parts. An important aspect that still hinders this technology is certification and nondestructive testing of the parts, and this is discussed. Finally, a general perspective of future advancements is presented.

Purpose The build volumes of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are increasing in size. This improvement is associated with the growing reliability of AM processes and is driven by a rise in demand from several industries. Large-format additive manufacturing (LFAM), when referring to polymeric extrusion systems, is quite new in the field of AM. The purpose of this paper is to present a review of large-format (those with build volumes over 1 m3) fused deposition or extrusion-based AM equipment. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents an exhaustive literature review for all the publications in the field of AM in the current decade, as well as technological coverage in the news, specialized blogs and technology fairs since the year 2015. Findings This review reveals growing scientific and industrial activity, as well as in equipment, in the field of LFAM. An increase in research activity is also occurring in parallel with a growing interest, potential and adaptation of these technologies in certain industries. Originality/value This review may be the first publication to collect the majority of existing information on LFAM for polymeric extrusion systems in terms of applied extrusion technologies, commercial products, specific material research and developments, intellectual property, design and simulation solutions, as well as its practical applications.