Challenges and Opportunities in Additive Manufacturing in Defence Applications

In recent years, Additive Manufacturing (AM) has gained significant attention due to its versatility and low-waste production cycle. Additive manufacturing fabricates complex, intricated structures and miniaturized shapes with high dimensional accuracy, tailored properties, multiple materials in a single part, and colour aesthetics. many solid-state and liquid-state AM techniques are available to achieve specific mechanical properties while simultaneously providing thermal and structural stability. Powder bed fusion (PBF) and direct energy deposition (DED) have the potential to make components for the defence and industrial sectors. The part production speed with AM techniques limits the application in mass production. The process involved in this technique is limited to polymers and non-metals for processing, and defects due to the liquid-solid interface need a lot of research to be done. The proposed chapter describes the role of AM in the defence sector and the challenges involved.