Advanced Smart Materials for 3D/4D Printing: Mechanisms, Performance and Applications
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Smart Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2026 | Viewed by 17
Special Issue Editors
Interests: smart materials; shape-memory polymers; 4D printing
Interests: 4D printing; smart material mechanics; smart structural design
Interests: shape memory polymers; 4D printing; multifunctional metamaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
4D printing technology, which is based on 3D printing, adds an additional temporal dimension to the process and can be realized through the integration of 3D printing techniques with smart materials. In contrast to the static structures fabricated via traditional 3D printing, 4D printed structures exhibit an ability to adaptively modify their performance or functionality over time in response to external stimuli such as heat, light, electricity, and magnetism. Smart materials have attracted much attention in fields such as aerospace, biomedicine, etc., due to their potential for active deformation and adaptive deployment. We encourage the submission of original manuscripts covering, but not limited to, the following topics:
- Functional smart materials;
- The fabrication of smart materials;
- Research on the mechanisms and performance of smart materials;
- 3D/4D printing;
- Research on the application of smart materials.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Cheng Lin
Prof. Dr. Liwu Liu
Dr. XiaoZhou Xin
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
- 3D/4D printing
- smart materials
- shape-memory polymers
- metamaterials
- smart structural design
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