Additive Manufacturing adoption in aviation: A literature review

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has seen rapid advancements and increasing application across various industries in recent years, offering unique opportunities for innovation, design flexibility and efficiency gains. However, the implementation of AM in aviation presents challenges related to costs, quality, and certification, among others. This review examines the status of AM in the aviation sector through a literature review with the intention of identifying the research topics and the main conclusions. It highlights significant issues such as cost and quality, which have been widely discussed in various studies to disclose future research opportunities as a contribution for the adoption of these technologies in the industry. This review utilized a Scopus-based search, yielding 29 relevant articles for analysis. These articles predominantly explore AM’s application in aviation, addressing advantages, sustainability, costs, supply chain, technology, materials, and lifecycle issues. The findings underscore AM’s potential to improve ‘buy-to-fly’ ratios and enable supply chain decentralization, driven by digitalization and reduction in transportation and inventory needs. Authors also point to the transformative potential of this technology, despite ongoing challenges, such as installation and volume production costs, but also quality, mechanical properties, porosity, surface finishing, and process repeatability issues. On the other hand, several authors argue that AM has the potential to contribute significantly to the aviation industry evolution in diverse areas such as the production of lightweight structures, rapid prototyping, supply chain responsiveness, and customized component manufacturing. The review consolidates the objectives and major findings of the selected articles, providing a comprehensive overview of AM’s present role and future in the aviation industry.