Coatings and Surface Treatments for Additively Manufactured Polymer Parts
A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). This special issue belongs to the section "Functional Polymer Coatings and Films".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 699
Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Polymer additive manufacturing (AM) parts are now used in various consumer applications. While fused filament fabrication (FFF), selective laser sintering (SLS), stereolithography (SLA), and digital light processing (DLP) enable complex geometries, surface characteristics like layer lines, staircase effects, and surface porosity limit their application.
Functional coatings and surface treatments address these challenges. Surface smoothing and filling coatings can reduce layer-line visibility and staircase effects; barrier coatings can mitigate porosity. Coatings can also improve functionality by providing corrosion resistance, wear protection, and electrical conductivity. For outdoor applications, coatings enable UV resistance, waterproofing, and protect against biological degradation.
This Special Issue focuses on coatings and surface treatments for AM polymer parts. Topics include the following:
- Coatings for mechanical performance: Increased hardness, increased ductility, impact resistance, etc.;
- Protective coatings: Corrosion, wear, chemical, and UV resistance;
- Weather-resistant coatings: Waterproofing, fire resistance;
- Biodegradation: Antimicrobial, antifungal coating;
- Conductive coatings and metallization;
- Biocompatible coatings for medical applications;
- Novel deposition techniques (atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), electroless plating, spray methods);
- Coating and substrate interface characterization and failure analysis;
- Surface smoothing methods;
- Sustainability and recyclability of coatings and surface treatments.
I look forward to your contributions.
Dr. Nagendra Tanikella
Guest Editor
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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
- additive manufacturing
- polymer coatings
- functional coatings
- coating adhesion
- surface modification
- post-processing
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