Smart Materials, Intelligent Structures and Innovative Applications of 3D Printing and Bio-Printing Methods

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue on smart materials, intelligent structures and applications of 3D printing and bioprinting methods aims to publish high-quality and original research papers (papers that have not been published elsewhere) based on innovative research that are mainly related to the evolution and trends of 3D printing methods, with applicability in large areas that are related to industrial or medical applications.

The main aim of this Special Issue of the Materials journal is to explore new types of materials that are conceived, developed, and suitable to be used for different types of 3D printing technologies. This can refer to metallic materials, polymers, ceramic materials, or composites or to specific methods that are used for widening the area of materials (by mixing hybrid materials, coatings, immersing, etc.). Irrespective of the type referred to, the use of these materials via 3D printing methods or bioprinting will be presented through the papers that are going to be published in this Special Issue.

Also of interest in this Special Issue are the conception and development of different types of lattice structures to decrease the weight of the parts via topological optimization (with applicability in the aerospace or automotive industry)  or to stimulate the osseo-conductivity of different types of implants made by 3D printing technologies (with applicability in the medical field) and the results reached by following different characterization procedures (e.g. mechanical testing, SEM, TEM, AFM, XRD, EDX analyses, etc.).

In terms of applicability of the methods, any application that is linked to an industrial product, medical application (implant, bone reconstruction, etc.) or biomedical printing (skin, tissue, vessels, muscles, organs, etc.) is more than welcomed to be included in this Special Issue.

The main topics to be included in this Special Issue are scientific contributions related to the following research topics:

• New types of materials suitable for 3D printing technologies;
• Design of new structures and topological optimization;
• Modeling and simulation of processes or new developed products;
• Additive manufacturing, 3D printing, and bioprinting methods;
• Rapid Tooling methods;
• Hybrid Manufacturing technologies;
• Mechanical testing of parts made using 3D printing technologies;
• Material characterization methods for new developed materials.

It is our pleasure to invite researchers, scientists, surgeons, and professionals from the industry or academic institutions and research centers from around the world to submit their contributions to this Special Issue.

Dr. Razvan Ioan Pacurar
Dr. Filip Górski
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 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-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.