Additive Manufacturing Technologies: The unforeseen revolution of the 21st century
Professor Dionysios E. Mouzakis

Mankind, is quickly heading towards its Fourth Industrial Revolution a term coined by Klaus Schwab, the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, in a 2015 article in Foreign Affairs. The Fourth Industrial Revolution represents a fundamental change in the way we live, work and relate to one another. It is a new chapter in human development, enabled by extraordinary technology advances commensurate with those of the first, second and third industrial revolutions. In the past 20 years, a great progress has been made in additive manufacturing techniques, which has led to numerous applications in aeronautical and defense structures. Though not all advanced materials and alloys, can be automatically layered by a rapid prototyping system or machine, several interesting application have seen the light of publicity in many sectors. Efforts are underway to apply the automated layering technologies in as many materials as possible, mostly nowadays plastics, reinforced-polymers, and metals can be processed by such systems in order to produce three-dimensional parts [1]. Already, scientists have established the so-called 4D printing sector, which involves 3D-printed materials and structures with “smart” capabilities, being adaptive in shape, or reacting to external stimuli over time. This presentation aspires to provide an insight in this area of technological leap.
1. Dionysios E. Mouzakis: Advanced Technologies in Manufacturing 3D-Layered Structures for Defense and Aerospace, in “Lamination, Theory and Application” Ed. C. Osheku, March 21st 2018, ISBN: 978-953-51-3926-3, Intechopen, London , UK
DOI: 10.5772/65194