Dear Colleagues,

Metal-based additive manufacturing (AM) is considered a promising technology, with many potential applications due to the process's unparalleled design flexibility. AM works by “building up” a part layer by layer, e.g., adding material rather than removing material. As a result, new designs an innovation can be realized that were not possible with traditional manufacturing. This flexibility is achieved in part because the process is highly localized, promising to deliver engineered material systems with precise control of composition and microstructure.

Recent economic reports have shown that the AM industry has experienced rapid annual growth on the order of approximately 30% from 2010 to 2015. In 2018, the AM industry was valued at over $14 billion globally, and it is projected to grow to $23 billion by 2022 and exceed $350 billion by 2035. However, despite the rapid growth of this technology and its transformative potential, the full utility of this material fabrication technology remains unrealized due to the lack of reproducibility and reliability in the process and the uncertainty in their structural properties of fabricated parts. To overcome these challenges, it is essential to establish relationships that integrate process parameters, thermal history, solidification, resultant microstructure, and mechanical behavior of parts fabricated by AM processes. In this view, the objective of this Special Issue is to highlight recent progress in process monitoring, material characterization, and computational modeling methods aimed at advancing the understanding of the processing parameters-structure-property relationships for metal AM materials. Special attention will be given but not limited to the following topics:

• Process monitoring in Metal Additive Manufacturing
• Computational models on Metal Additive Manufacturing
• Melt pool dynamics
• Microstructure evolution during the AM process
• Mechanical response of AM components
• Microstructure and property relations in AM components
• Uncertainty quantification in Metal Additive Manufacturing
• Process optimization in Metal Additive Manufacturing

Prof. David Restrepo
Prof. Dr. Harry Millwater
Dr. Carl Popelar
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Crystals 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.

• Metal Additive Manufacturing
• Uncertainty Quantification
• Process Control
• Process Monitoring
• Optimization
• Grain Growth
• Crystal Plasticity