5. Conclusion

Process intensification is facilitated by recent advances in additive manufacturing: new geometries are accessible, with a direct impact on characteristic dimensions, on the overall spatial arrangement of volumes and surfaces to provide favorable conditions for transformation at every point of the equipment, and on the local design of geometries to maximize performance by optimizing the precise shape of the volumes and surfaces that govern this transformation. Additive manufacturing is a tool of great interest to scientists, and not just for prototyping. For batch or small series production, it can already be competitive.

The variety of new manufacturing processes emerging every year, and the progress made to make these processes more mature, capable of producing ever larger equipment with ever-improving productivity, suggest that they will be in widespread use...