Outlook of Industry 4.0 Integrated Technologies in Thermal Spray Processes and Applications

In today’s increasingly competitive global marketplace, thermal spray processes are needed to support higher-value user manufacturing techniques and to satisfy continuously changing customer demands. These require thermal spray systems that are flexible enough to be produced at different scales of manufacturing batches, while still achieving high-quality coatings at a low cost. Therefore, the established and standard thermal spray processes are in the need to be upgraded to catch up with the stringent requirements of Industry 4.0. The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive review on the technologies of Industry 4.0 already integrated with thermal spray processes to uplift their applications through advanced digitization and automation, leading to enhanced efficiency and sustainability. To this purpose, the main current challenges facing the thermal spray family are described. Specific technologies including process control for improving the stability of the spray system, characterization for tailoring coatings to the specific requirements of various applications, modeling and simulation for enhanced replicability, analysis and optimization of the process, in situ observation for monitoring and data collection, artificial intelligence for allowing efficient and effective control and decision making and finally robotics for realizing hybrid thermal spray processes are detailed. These progressive technological aspects can play an irreplaceable role in enhancing the quality and applicability of thermal spray processes. Ultimately, the potential for incorporating these advanced technologies into thermal spray process chains is comprehensively evaluated, and the prospective trajectory of thermal spray technology’s evolution is discussed.