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Advances in Metal Additive Manufacturing: Processes, Applications, and Challenges

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Manufacturing Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2024 | Viewed by 865

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia
Interests: industrial applications; mechanical design; design optimisation; 3D printing; design for additive manufacturing; additive manufacturing processes

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia
Interests: additive manufacturing; topology optimization; cost analysis for additive manufacturing; materials for additive manufacturing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Metal Additive Manufacture (MAM) employs 3D printing technologies (material addition in incremental layers) to manufacture parts in metallic materials. With virtually no geometric limitations, this technology offers many opportunities such as novel design options that improve part performance, efficiency and/or functionality, reduced production times, material usage, cost, energy consumption and carbon footprint, and improved sustainability. Subsequently, MAM is evident in a range of industrial applications, such as aerospace, defence, automotive, medical, and consumer and industrial products.

This manufacturing technology has the potential to revolutionise global part manufacture and logistics landscape. Although applications of MAM are becoming more widespread, it has scientific and technological challenges and limitations, where both governments and corporations invest into ongoing MAM research and development to overcome these challenges and improve its adoption.

MAM research and development has been dispersed across many publications and sources, and this Special Issue (Advances in Metal Additive Manufacturing: Processes, Applications and Challenges) provides an opportunity to share the most recent scientific knowledge of MAM technologies, processes, applications and challenges in one comprehensive source. It is anticipated that your contribution to the advances in MAM will serve as a valuable and appreciated resource for both academics and manufacturing communities to facilitate its future advancement and adoption.

For this Special Issue, you are encouraged to submit studies that address challenges associated with MAM, which include but not limited to:

  1. Processes and Technologies
  2. Applications
  3. Design for MAM
  4. Standardisation
  5. Cost Modelling and Analysis
  6. Materials for MAM
  7. Printing Parameter Optimisation
  8. Microstructural Analysis and Mechanical Performance
  9. Defect Analysis and Formation Mechanisms
  10. Topology/Shape Optimisation

Dr. Ferdinando Guzzomi
Dr. Ana Vafadar
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • industrial applications
  • metal additive manufacture and 3D printing
  • design for metal additive manufacture
  • design optimisation
  • metal alloys for metal additive manufacturing

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

25 pages, 6022 KiB  
Review
A Review on Traditional Processes and Laser Powder Bed Fusion of Aluminum Alloy Microstructures, Mechanical Properties, Costs, and Applications
by Xin Wang, Dongyun Zhang, Ang Li, Denghao Yi and Tianci Li
Materials 2024, 17(11), 2553; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17112553 - 25 May 2024
Viewed by 704
Abstract
Due to its lightweight, high strength, good machinability, and low cost, aluminum alloy has been widely used in fields such as aerospace, automotive, electronics, and construction. Traditional manufacturing processes for aluminum alloys often suffer from low material utilization, complex procedures, and long manufacturing [...] Read more.
Due to its lightweight, high strength, good machinability, and low cost, aluminum alloy has been widely used in fields such as aerospace, automotive, electronics, and construction. Traditional manufacturing processes for aluminum alloys often suffer from low material utilization, complex procedures, and long manufacturing cycles. Therefore, more and more scholars are turning their attention to the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process for aluminum alloys, which has the advantages of high material utilization, good formability for complex structures, and short manufacturing cycles. However, the widespread promotion and application of LPBF aluminum alloys still face challenges. The excellent printable ability, favorable mechanical performance, and low manufacturing cost are the main factors affecting the applicability of the LPBF process for aluminum alloys. This paper reviews the research status of traditional aluminum alloy processing and LPBF aluminum alloy and makes a comparison from various aspects such as microstructures, mechanical properties, application scenarios, and manufacturing costs. At present, the LPBF manufacturing cost for aluminum alloys is 2–120 times higher than that of traditional manufacturing methods, with the discrepancy depending on the complexity of the part. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the further development and application of aluminum alloy 3D printing technology from three aspects: the development of aluminum matrix composite materials reinforced with nanoceramic particles, the development of micro-alloyed aluminum alloy powders specially designed for LPBF, and the development of new technologies and equipment to reduce the manufacturing cost of LPBF aluminum alloy. Full article
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