Composites can be divided into three groups based on their matrix materials, namely polymer, metal and ceramic. Composite materials fail due to micro cracks. Repairing is complex and almost impossible if cracks appear on the surface and interior, which minimizes reliability and material life. In order to save the material from failure and prolong its lifetime without compromising mechanical properties, self-healing is one of the emerging and best techniques. The studies to address the advantages and challenges of self-healing properties of different matrix materials are very limited; however, this review addresses all three different groups of composites. Self-healing composites are fabricated to heal cracks, prevent any obstructed failure, and improve the lifetime of structures. They can self-diagnose their structure after being affected by external forces and repair damages and cracks to a certain degree. This review aims to provide information on the recent developments and prospects of self-healing composites and their applications in various fields such as aerospace, automobiles etc. Fabrication and characterization techniques as well as intrinsic and extrinsic self-healing techniques are discussed based on the latest achievements, including microcapsule embedment, fibers embedment, and vascular networks self-healing.

Additive manufacturing technology provides a gateway to completely new horizons for producing a wide range of components, such as manufacturing, medicine, aerospace, automotive, and space explorations, especially in non-conventional manufacturing processes. The present study analyzes the influence of the additive manufactured tool in electrochemical micromachining (ECMM) on machining beta titanium alloy. The influence of different machining parameters, such as applied voltage, electrolytic concentration, and duty ratio on material removal rate (MRR), overcut, and circularity was also analyzed. It was inferred that the additive manufactured tool can produce better circularity and overcut than a bare tool due to its higher corrosion resistance and localization effect. The additive manufactured tool can remove more material owing to its strong atomic bond of metals and higher electrical conductivity.

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was utilised to compare the thermal stability of pure phase change material (D-mannitol) to that of nano-enhanced PCM (NEPCM) (i.e., PCM containing 0.5% and 1% multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT)). Using model-free kinetics techniques, the kinetics of pure PCM and NEPCM degradation were analysed. Three different kinetic models such as Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS), the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO), and the Starink were applied to assess the activation energies of the pure and nano-enhanced PCM samples. Activation energies for pure PCM using the Ozawa, KAS, and Starink methods ranged from 71.10–77.77, 79.36–66.87, and 66.53–72.52 kJ/mol, respectively. NEPCM’s (1% MWCNT) activation energies ranged from 76.59–59.11, 71.52–52.28, and 72.15–53.07 kJ/mol. Models of machine learning were utilised to predict the degradation of NEPCM samples; these included linear regression, support vector regression, random forests, gaussian process regression, and artificial neural network models. The mass loss of the sample functioned as the output parameter, while the addition of nanoparticles weight fraction, the heating rate, and the temperature functioned as the input parameters. Experiment-based TGA data can be accurately predicted using the created machine learning models.

Additive manufacturing (AM) implementation has advanced beyond prototyping towards becoming an extremely configurable manufacturing process with the illustrated ability to change conventional manufacturing in the future generations entirely. AM is completely based on Rapid Prototyping (RP), which helps fabricate critical and immense structure with 3D CAD software. The primary goal of this method is to create a product with optimal features such as compact, increased energy absorption, material reduction, insulation, and heat exchange. On the opposite, modeling and generating lattice structures and implementing different applications are all required. This review will get into the concepts of various classifications of additive manufacturing and its features.