Advanced Ceramics in Aerospace and Defense: The Interrelationship between Traditional and Additive Manufacturing Approaches

Abstract For over a decade, additive manufacturing (AM) has experienced several hype cycles from the academic and industry worlds. Although not every forecast turned into reality, it is consensual that AM is key to shifting from machine‐dominated to digital productions. AM promotes decreased supply chain complexity by commissioning on‐site and on‐demand customized components, faster response to customer demand, and enhanced sustainability. Currently, metal‐ and polymer‐based AM is widely accepted, considering the variety of international standards issued (ASTM and ISO), their applications, and strategic foresight opportunities. Advanced ceramic AM, conversely, is only now getting widespread attention from scientific institutes, start‐ups, and industries. Ceramic materials’ inherent brittle nature, defect‐sensitive properties, and extensive post‐processing are major blockers in exploiting ceramic best traits. Fortunately, ceramic AM has shown leverage in solving ceramic formability bottlenecks. In this review, the up‐to‐date traditional manufacturing interrelationship with AM is discussed in scope of ceramic aerospace and defense applications. Applications of advanced ceramics in such areas encompass thermal protection systems, thermal barrier coatings, armor and space shielding, sensors and actuators. The synergy between AM and Industry 4.0 technological pillars (digital twins, cloud computing, the IoT, augmented reality, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning) is also presented and discussed.