Additive manufacturing, which was first invented in France and then applied in the United States, is now 33 years old and represents a market of around 5 billion euros per year, with annual growth of between 20 and 30%. Today, additive manufacturing is experiencing a great amount of innovation in its processes, software, engineering and materials used. Its strength as a process has more recently allowed for the exploration of new niches, ranging from applications at nanometer and decameter scales, to others in mechanics and health. As a result, the limitations of the process have also begun to emerge, which include the quality of the tools, their cost of manufacture, the multi-material aspects, functionalities and surface conditions. Volume 2 of this series presents the current techniques, improvements and limits of additive manufacturing, providing an up-to-date review of this process.

Additive manufacturing, which was first invented in France and then applied in the United States, is now 33 years old and represents a market of around 5 billion euros per year, with annual growth of between 20 and 30%. Today, additive manufacturing is experiencing a great amount of innovation in its processes, software, engineering and materials used. Its strength as a process has more recently allowed for the exploration of new niches, ranging from applications at nanometer and decameter scales, to others in mechanics and health. As a result, the limitations of the process have also begun to emerge, which include the quality of the tools, their cost of manufacture, the multi-material aspects, functionalities and surface conditions. Volume 2 of this series presents the current techniques, improvements and limits of additive manufacturing, providing an up-to-date review of this process.

Additive manufacturing, which was first invented in France and then applied in the United States, is now 33 years old and represents a market of around 5 billion euros per year, with annual growth of between 20 and 30%. Today, additive manufacturing is experiencing a great amount of innovation in its processes, software, engineering and materials used. Its strength as a process has more recently allowed for the exploration of new niches, ranging from applications at nanometer and decameter scales, to others in mechanics and health. As a result, the limitations of the process have also begun to emerge, which include the quality of the tools, their cost of manufacture, the multi-material aspects, functionalities and surface conditions. Volume 2 of this series presents the current techniques, improvements and limits of additive manufacturing, providing an up-to-date review of this process.

With a turnover of some 5-15 billion € / year, the additive manufacturing has industrial niches bearers thanks to processes and materials more and more optimized. While some niches still exist on the application of additive techniques in traditional fields (from jewelery to food for example), several trends emerge, using new concepts: collective production, realization of objects at once (without addition Of material), micro-fluidic, 4D printing exploiting programmable materials and materials, bio-printing, etc. There are both opportunities for new markets, promises not envisaged less than 10 years ago, but difficulties in reaching them.

Any time objects and their (self-)organization are to be put into use, their models and methods of thinking as well as their designing and manufacturing need to be reinvented. 4D printing is a future technology that is capable of bringing 3D objects to life. This ability, which gives objects the power to change shape or properties over time through energy stimulation from active materials and additive manufacturing, makes it possible to envisage technological breakthroughs while challenging the relationship between people and objects. 4D Printing 1 presents the different facets of this technology, providing an objective, critical and even disruptive viewpoint to enable its existence and development, and to stimulate the creative drive that industry, society and humanity need in the perpetual quest for evolution and transformation.

Optimization is central to any problem involving decision-making in engineering. Optimization theory and methods deal with selecting the best option regarding the given objective function or performance index. New algorithmic and theoretical techniques have been developed for this purpose, and have rapidly diffused into other disciplines. As a result, our knowledge of all aspects of the field has grown even more profound. In Optimization for Engineering Problems, eminent researchers in the field present the latest knowledge and techniques on the subject of optimization in engineering. Whereas the majority of work in this area focuses on other applications, this book applies advanced and algorithm-based optimization techniques specifically to problems in engineering.