A Comprehensive Review on Additive Manufacturing of Smart Components: Technologies, Applications, and Future Scope

Additive manufacturing (AM) has progressed from passive geometries to active systems by introducing functional capabilities within AM structures, resulting in smart components. Recent advances enable functional elements such as active electronic components to be embedded directly during fabrication, allowing the structures to sense, respond, and adapt to their operating environment, while reducing assembly complexity and associated failure points. Even though there is a significant amount of research conducted in the above domain, there is a lack of a review article that combines all the available literature into the applications of AM in smart components. This review examines and synthesizes progress in integrating five key smart capabilities within AM‐built parts: (i) sensing for continuous monitoring, (ii) actuation for adaptive motion and force generation, (iii) shape‐memory behavior for programmable transformation, (iv) self‐healing for recovery of structural integrity, and (v) energy harvesting to support self‐powered operation. The review integrates materials, design architecture, fabrication approaches, process–structure–function relationships, and multifunctional integration strategies used in AM‐enabled smart components. It further discusses the recent developments, comparative performance trends, challenges, and future opportunities associated with sensing, actuation, shape‐memory, self‐healing, and energy‐harvesting functionalities.