Novel advancements in additive manufacturing of PLA: A review

Abstract

AbstractThree‐dimensional (3‐D) printing technology (3‐DPT) also referred to as additive manufacturing (AM) has advanced rapidly and is vastly used in varying manufacturing fields because of the minimization of waste materials and the ability to form complex geometrical shapes from micro‐ to macroscale. Nowadays, additive manufacturing (AM) has emerged extensively in varying engineering, architectural, medical, industrial, and manufacturing fields. Four‐dimensional (4‐D) printing technology (4‐DPT) synergizes 3‐DPT with stimuli‐sensitive materials and has garnered wide attention for smart additive fabrication. More so, 4‐DPT has displayed great prospects in numerous engineering applications including origami actuators, drug transport, robotics, smart clothing, and adaptive metamaterials. Hence, this elucidation presents recent advances in PLA additive manufacturing (3‐DPT) and applications. Insight into 4‐DPT is also presented.