With highway vehicles using over 20% of the total energy consumption in the United States, making strides in improving their fuel economy will positively influence the nation’s environmental impact. One methodology to accomplish this outcome is by reducing vehicle weight. In this regard, since the internal combustion (IC) engine is a major contributor to the mass of an automobile, it is an ideal area to target. Prior efforts in this area include using alternative materials (e.g., aluminum or magnesium) to decrease weight. Here, additive manufacturing (AM) is an appealing option due to its freedom from typical manufacturing constraints and the ability to produce highly optimized designs using nonconventional powertrain materials (e.g., titanium). The use of AM has the potential to increase reliability, improve performance, decrease production cost, and possibly minimize the number of parts. Since metal-based AM is a relatively new area of manufacturing for IC engines, its use has been largely limited to research, motorsport, and luxury vehicle activities. Given its potential, this effort provides a review and summary of AM work completed in this field including design optimization, prototyping, tooling and indirect manufacturing, part production, and remanufacturing and repair for IC engine components.
