Abstract
The term “critical raw materials” (CRMs) refers to various metals and nonmetals that are crucial to Europe’s economic progress. Modern technologies enabling effective use and recyclability of CRMs are in critical demand for the EU industries. The use of CRMs, especially in the fields of biomedicine, aerospace, electric vehicles, and energy applications, is almost irreplaceable. Additive manufacturing (also referred to as 3D printing) is one of the key enabling technologies in the field of manufacturing which underpins the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 3D printing not only suppresses waste but also provides an efficient buy-to-fly ratio and possesses the potential to entirely change supply and distribution chains, significantly reducing costs and revolutionizing all logistics. This review provides comprehensive new insights into CRM-containing materials processed by modern additive manufacturing techniques and outlines the potential for increasing the efficiency of CRMs utilization and reducing the dependence on CRMs through wider industrial incorporation of AM and specifics of powder bed AM methods making them prime candidates for such developments.
Highlights
There is a growing global concern about securing access to metals and minerals needed for developing economic production
This review provides comprehensive new insights into CRM-containing materials processed by modern additive manufacturing techniques and outlines the potential for increasing the efficiency of CRMs utilization and reducing the dependence on CRMs through wider industrial incorporation of AM and specifics of powder bed AM methods making them prime candidates for such developments
Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies are becoming critical to achieving sustainable use of critical raw materials, vital to European industries, in manufacture and repair
Summary
There is a growing global concern about securing access to metals and minerals needed for developing economic production. Specific processing conditions characteristic of AM allow for developing new materials with unique properties not possible to manufacture by other methods, including bulk metallic glasses [18,19], highentropy alloys [20,21,22], and different composites [23,24] Due to these reasons, additive manufacturing was identified as an essential part of the upcoming Fourth Industrial Revolution and, in particular, as an effective and promising method to reduce CRMs use in a wide variety of industrial production processes [8,13]. The third line of search was partially based on our own databases of research publications and on additional searches on the advantages of AM and future trends in AM development relevant to solving critical issues and future challenges for CRMs. Since the primary scope for this research is focused on the additive manufacturing of CRMs, the corresponding approach is material- and technology-focused. One should note that some of the papers are presented in two or even all three subsets
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