Topic Review
Additive Manufacturing Applications at the Microscale
Additive manufacturing (AM) technology has been researched and developed for almost three decades. Microscale AM is one of the fastest-growing fields of research within the AM area. Considerable progress has been made in the development and commercialization of new and innovative microscale AM processes, as well as several practical applications in a variety of fields. However, there are still significant challenges that exist in terms of design, available materials, processes, and the ability to fabricate true three-dimensional structures and systems at a microscale. For instance, microscale AM fabrication technologies are associated with certain limitations and constraints due to the scale aspect, which may require the establishment and use of specialized design methodologies in order to overcome them.
  • 487
  • 30 May 2022
Topic Review
Additive Manufacturing for Electromobility
Additive manufacturing (AM) offers the possibility to produce components in a resource-efficient and environmentally friendly way. AM can also be used to optimise the design of components in mechanical and physical terms. In this way, functionally integrated, lightweight, highly efficient, and innovative components can be manufactured with the help of additive manufacturing in terms of Industry 4.0. The development of drivetrains for electromobility offers far more potential than simply replacing the combustion engine with an electric motor. With the possibility of power-specific AM design, and the resulting wide variety of electric machine designs, new drivetrain topologies can be designed. The gradual reduction in mechanical drive components improves the overall efficiency of the drivetrain (tank to wheel). With regard to metal 3D printing, it is possible to combine components, functionalise them, and design them using lightweight construction approaches, so as to incur weight and component savings. 
  • 578
  • 02 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Additive Manufacturing Interventions during COVID-19 Pandemic: South Africa
Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is considered a renaissance of the manufacturing industry. Its unique capability of manufacturing 3D objects with intricate geometrical configurations has been used to produce hospital equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE) in an attempt to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. The technology has been used by different research units to produce ventilators, respirator face masks, oscillating respiratory devices, oxygen connectors, oxygen splitters, non-invasive ventilation helmets, reusable clinician PPE, visor frames for face shields, etc. Despite the efforts of the AM community in South Africa, COVID-19 infections have continued to increase in the country. It came to light that technological interventions (including AM) alone cannot prevent the spread of the virus without the corresponding adaptive behavioural changes, such as adhering to COVID-19 prevention protocols (washing of hands, social distancing, etc.). It could be postulated that the spread of COVID-19 can only be prevented by inter-marrying the technological interventions (AM) with adaptive behavioural changes. 
  • 348
  • 25 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Additive Manufacturing of Dissimilar Metals and Complex Alloys
With the emergence of additive manufacturing (AM) as one of the promising platforms to realize the needs for digital manufacturing, the deployment of AM a.k.a. 3D printing has experienced a consistent growth across industries from healthcare to energy to defense, to name a few. In AM, a material is fused layer-by-layer in accord with a computer-aided design (CAD) model to achieve a near net-shaped specimen. Amongst the several benefits over the conventional manufacturing processes (such as casting, forging, machining, etc.), AM eliminates the need for tools or dyes and, in a few cases, assembly to make a component. AM is generally classified into several techniques, stereolithography (SLA), powder bed fusion (PBF), direct energy deposition (DED), and material jetting, to list a few. Amongst them, metal AM techniques are particularly intriguing owing to their capabilities in fabricating multicomponent alloy parts; on the other hand, metal AM does need to overcome deep technical challenges associated with the complex solidification cycles and the resultant residual stresses. Nonetheless, products resulting from certain AM processes have demonstrated superior mechanical properties compared to their conventionally processed counterparts.
  • 105
  • 29 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Additive Manufacturing of High Entropy Alloys
Alloying has been very common practice in materials engineering to fabricate metals of desirable properties for specific applications. Traditionally, a small amount of the desired material is added to the principal metal. However, a new alloying technique emerged in 2004 with the concept of adding several principal elements in or near equi-atomic concentrations. These are popularly known as high entropy alloys (HEAs) which can have a wide composition range.
  • 1.5K
  • 15 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Additive Manufacturing of Magnesium-Based Alloys through Laser-Based Approach
Magnesium alloys continue to be important in the context of modern and lightweight technologies. The increased use of Mg each year indicates a rise in demand for alloys containing Mg. With additive manufacturing (AM), components can be produced directly in a net shape, providing new ideas relating to the new prospects for Mg-based materials. 
  • 1.1K
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Additive Manufacturing of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems
The fabrication of MEMS through additive manufacturing processes applied to the microscale is described in detail in this entry, where the presently available building methods are analyzed.
  • 534
  • 29 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Additive Manufacturing Technology in Railway Infrastructure Systems
Additive manufacturing technologies, well known as three-dimensional printing (3DP) technologies, have been applied in many industrial fields, including aerospace, automobiles, shipbuilding, civil engineering and nuclear power. However, despite the high material utilization and the ability to rapidly construct complex shaped structures of 3D printing technologies, the application of additive manufacturing technologies in railway track infrastructure is still at the exploratory stage. 
  • 1.8K
  • 07 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Advancement in UV-Visible-IR Camouflage Textiles & Camouflage Physics
Optical theory of Camouflage engineering has been invented for defence protection. This optical theory can be implemented by defence scientists to explore camouflage products and multidimensional branches of optical technologies. Advancement in ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-Vis-IR) camouflage engineering has been designed for defence protection. Camouflage physics has been explained through camouflage textiles and camouflage materials. This technique of camouflage engineering can be explored to defence technology for the design and manufacturing of combat product against multidimensional combat backgrounds such as dry leaves, green leaves, tree bark-woodland combat background; water-marine combat background; sand-desertland combat background; stone-stoneland combat background; snow-snowland combat background; sky combat background; ice-iceland combat background and concrete-concreteland combat background (DGTWSICB). This is a novel addition of camouflage technology for the engineering progress of camouflage product design. Hence, camouflage engineering has been briefly reported by “Anowar Hossain’s invention of camouflage physics at PhD School, first version submitted to Nobel committee for Nobel nomination in 2023 under affiliation of RMIT University”. http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.29936.23048, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8286832
  • 315
  • 06 Oct 2023
Topic Review
AI-Based Surface Roughness Prediction for Additively Manufactured Components
Additive manufacturing has gained significant popularity from a manufacturing perspective due to its potential for improving production efficiency. However, ensuring consistent product quality within predetermined equipment, cost, and time constraints remains a persistent challenge. Surface roughness, a crucial quality parameter, presents difficulties in meeting the required standards, posing significant challenges in industries such as automotive, aerospace, medical devices, energy, optics, and electronics manufacturing, where surface quality directly impacts performance and functionality. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the methods used by researchers to predict the surface quality of additively fabricated parts. 
  • 288
  • 23 Oct 2023
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