Metallic Coatings through Additive Manufacturing: A Review

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Manufacturing Engineering
• Surface Engineering

Background:

• Metallic additive manufacturing (MAM) is increasingly used for complex, customized components.
• Poor surface quality in MAM necessitates the development of metallic coatings.
• Additive manufacturing (AM) offers novel approaches for applying metallic coatings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and classify metallic coating methods used in industry via additive manufacturing.
• To provide a comprehensive overview of different AM techniques for metallic coatings.
• To detail the energy sources, applications, and challenges associated with each method.

Main Methods:

• Classification of AM metallic coating techniques based on energy sources.
• Review of methods including direct energy deposition, binder jetting, powder bed fusion, hot spray coatings, and sheet lamination.
• Detailed description of each method supported by relevant literature.

Main Results:

• Categorization of metallic coating AM processes by energy input.
• Identification of key industrial applications for various AM coating techniques.
• Analysis of the specific needs and inherent challenges for each reviewed process.

Conclusions:

• Additive manufacturing provides diverse methods for applying metallic coatings to enhance component properties.
• Understanding the distinct characteristics, applications, and challenges of each AM coating technique is crucial for industrial adoption.
• Further research and development are needed to overcome limitations and optimize AM metallic coating processes.