Abstract

Space and aerospace exploration have the highest regulations regarding design and manufacturing processing. As a result, an immense multi-tier manufacturing system has been developed because of the tooling and machinery associated with the production of high-grade spacecraft and aircraft. Furthermore, the nature of the supply chain and hefty capital investments further complicate spacecraft and aircraft manufacturing. Metal additive manufacturing (AM) offers the best solution to produce complex parts from digital information without the need for large amounts of tooling and machinery. MAM represents a promising aspect of innovations to revolutionize the way manufacturing is designed and constructed for many applications. Moreover, various research activities are being carried out in the aerospace industry for MAM process, which produces parts that would be impossible to create using conventional manufacturing (CM) methods. MAM has gained popularity in recent years from its initial stages of development in the research phase to providing a wide range of functional applications in the aerospace industry to manufacture and repair a wide range of components used in spacecraft and aircraft. The significant growth in MAM process can be attributed to its commercial and performance advantages within the aerospace industry. In this paper, a detailed assessment of existing MEM processes is presented, emphasizing the ability to manufacture and repair metal parts for the aerospace industry, providing information about the materials currently in use, as well as identifying possible future applications and challenges. There is no doubt that the information provided in this study will support exploring MAM’s new opportunities for future needs in space and aerospace exploration.

Key words: Manufacturability, metal additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping, design optimization, space, and aerospace applications