During the additive manufacturing process,the molten pool experiences rapid melting,cooling and solidification,and its physical,chemical,structural and stress conditions are in an extreme non-equilibrium state,which can easily lead to defects such as pores and cracks,and affect the mechanical properties of the parts.Synchrotron X-rays,with high spatial and temporal resolution,can be used to achieve in-situ characterization of the melt pool dynamics and defect evolution during the additive manufacturing process.The constructions of in-situ experimental platforms for laser additive manufacturing in recent years were summarized in this paper,and the research progress of synchrotron X-ray in-situ characterization of laser additive manufacturing processes in terms of molten pool structure evolution,defect formation mechanism and forming process optimization were detailly introduced.Finally,based on the limitations of the current in-situ observation of additive manufacturing,future researches were expected in terms of the improvement of the characterization system,diversification of raw materials and computational corrections.