Freeze casting, popularly known as ice templating or freeze gelation, is a mechanical method to fabricate scaffolds of desirable properties and materials. Aerospace engineering, the healthcare sector, manufacturing department, and automotive industries are the different fields where freeze casting has been used. Bioinspiration refers to the translation of biological systems into new and innovative creations. Bioinspired materials are extensively used in freeze casting methods such as ceramide, spines of porcupine fish, and collagen. Due to the tunable properties and production of complex structures with ease, biomaterials have found numerous applications in the ice templating method. This review rigorously explains the freeze casting process and the effect of thermal conductivity, stress, and electrostatic repulsion on the porous materials. Also, we have discussed the different biomaterial polymers used in freeze casting along with different methods involved.

Additive manufacturing (AM) has been gaining pace, replacing traditional manufacturing methods. Moreover, artificial intelligence and machine learning implementation has increased for further applications and advancements. This review extensively follows all the research work and the contemporary signs of progress in the directed energy deposition (DED) process. All types of DED systems, feed materials, energy sources, and shielding gases used in this process are also analyzed in detail. Implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in the DED process to make the process less human-dependent and control the complicated aspects has been rigorously reviewed. Various AI techniques like neural networks, gradient boosted decision trees, support vector machines, and Gaussian process techniques can achieve the desired aim. These models implemented in the DED process have been trained for high-precision products and superior quality monitoring.