Abstract
In the quest to develop better products with the least cost and time possible without comprising quality and durability. Industries are digitally transforming by adapting technologies that will make them Industry 4.0 and or 5.0 compliant. One of such technologies is Digital Twins (DT). In recent years, this phenomenon coupled with the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and human-robot collaboration has been evolving fast and industries are looking at its viability in all branches of manufacturing including welding. Hence, since many joining and assembly plants such as the automotive, construction and aerospace still rely on welding to fabricate most of their products, this is a niche that presents huge possibilities. Specifically, laser welding has been promising for various industrial applications because of its precision, low residual stress and high automation capabilities. For this reason, this paper systematically examines the implementation of DT in a laser welding lifecycle as reported in literature from design to post-weld treatment to derive future trends, limitations and opportunities.