A Survey on Process Modelling, Innovation, Design, and Material Characterisation in Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

The unique design freedom offered by additive manufacturing (AM) technologies enables engineers to develop more innovative products with relatively lower costs within a shorter period of processing time in comparison with conventional manufacturing methods. On the other hand, the unique capabilities of AM have created a platform for researchers to combine several engineering methods with the new manufacturing technique to grow industrial applications as well as resolve the existing issues with AM processes. Understanding the research values that AM offers academic environments, this paper performs a systematic survey on AM-related research topics in the fields of mechanical engineering and materials science that have attracted much attention from research teams over the last few years. These topics, namely process modelling in AM, innovative research in AM, generative design by AM, material characterisation in AM processes, and finally, design for additive manufacturing (DfAM), are notably investigated through this study.