Recent advances in material development and process monitoring in polymer additive manufacturing

This article provides an overview of the recent progress made in the field of polymer based additive manufacturing. The research works discussed in this article was presented at the Polymers in Additive Manufacturing session of the Next-Gen Manufacturing Topical Conference at the 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting. It is worth noting that the developments reviewed in this paper are by no means exhaustive; however, we focus only on the research presented in the aforementioned session for the sake of conciseness. The major focus of this article is on the utilization of macromolecular systems in the emerging field of additive manufacturing. In particular, the article highlights both experimental and computational efforts that utilize polymers in additive manufacturing. Current research trends addressing all methods of polymer-based additive manufacturing, including material extrusion, stereolithography, and direct ink writing, have been analyzed. Finally, prospective avenues to achieve more fundamental understanding and hence further insights into improving additive manufacturing of polymers have also been presented.