Smart Materials for 4D Printing: A Review on Developments, Challenges and Applications

The latest advances in additive manufacturing methods (AMM) generally called as three-dimensional (3D) printing has been permitted to design and generate complicated profiles which are not possible with conventional techniques. A new method of creation of an object by layer by layer called it as rapid prototyping technique which is also known as three-dimensional printing. If these methods of printing supposed to be implemented for self-healing smart materials, then it is known as four-dimensional printing. Also, day-to-day advancements in fashion in the lifestyle of public, industries are not capable to satisfy their requirements with conventional manufacturing techniques with conventional materials because of increased cost to alter the design, manufacture and process layout for each fashion style. It is impossible to satisfy with conventional materials as well as processing methods so more competition existed in the present industrial sectors according to market demands as per customer requirements. Advancements in additive manufacturing techniques covered this gap by day-to-day developments in materials and their methods. In this review article, discussed about recent developments of smart materials, innovations in 4D printing and challenges which are faced in the research and development (R&D) divisions, also described about variety of application areas almost in all fields. This paper provides the basic information to the young researchers who are interested in this area.