3D printing in materials manufacturing industry: A realm of Industry 4.0

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a new manufacturing trend showing promising progress over time in the era of Industry 4.0. So far, various research has been done for increasing the reliability and productivity of a 3D printing process. In this regard, reviewing the existing concepts and forwarding novel research directions are important. This paper reviews and summarizes the process flow, technologies, configurations, and monitoring of AM. It started with the general AM process flow, followed by the definitions and the working principles of various AM technologies and the possible AM configurations, such as traditional and robot-assisted AM. Then, defect detection, fault diagnosis, and open-loop and closed-loop control systems in AM are discussed. It is noted that introducing robots into the assisting mechanism of AM increases the reliability and productivity of the manufacturing process. Moreover, integrating machine learning and conventional control algorithms ensures a closed-loop control in AM, a promising control strategy. Lastly, the paper addresses the challenges and future trends.