Energy Field‐Assisted Additive Manufacturing of Engineering Thermoplastics

Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques have been extensively utilized to fabricate parts from engineering thermoplastics. Some defects during printing constrain the practical application of as‐printed thermoplastic products. The integration of energy fields in AM is an effective solution to tackle these defects. However, current review articles focus on introducing the effects of energy fields on metal and nonthermoplastic AM, ignoring the significance of energy fields to enhance the quality of thermoplastic products. Therefore, this review introduces the fundamental energy–polymer mechanisms of four major energy fields: thermal, acoustic, magnetic, and electric. These mechanisms are examined within two mainstream thermoplastic polymer AM strategies, fused filament fabrication and selective laser sintering. It further discusses the implementation of these energy fields in both AM strategies and summarizes their advantageous effects on overcoming the defects of fabricated thermoplastic products. Finally, the potential challenges and future research directions in energy field‐assisted thermoplastic AM are prospected.