Powder Bed Fusion and Direct Deposition in Additive Manufacturing of Metals: Methods, Materials, and Their Properties

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, different additive manufacturing techniques with various mechanisms, such as powder bed or direct deposition, are being used to fabricate metal components. Additionally, the use of different bonding techniques, such as binder jetting, sintering, or melting, and energy sources such as laser beams, electric arcs, or electron beams make each metal additive manufacturing method distinct from others in terms of its core nature. Consequently, based on these features, additive manufacturing methods can be used in different scenarios and yield final products with distinct and different properties.

Hence, understanding the properties of metals processed via these different additive manufacturing methods is of utmost importance to improve the characteristics of the final products and also find suitable applications for different combinations of raw metals and additive manufacturing methods.

Accordingly, this Special Issue is dedicated to studying both powder bed and direct deposition techniques in the fabrication of metal parts to highlight the correlations between the additive manufacturing process and the properties of the processed metal. Additionally, this Special Issue aims allow readers to compare different additive manufacturing methods of metals (such as laser powder bed fusion and wire arc additive manufacturing as the most commonly used methods in industrial applications) and metals.

This issue is open to (experimental, analytical, or modeling) research papers, reviews, and communications dedicated to:

• Additive manufacturing methods of metals based on either the powder bed or direct deposition techniques;
• Microstructural features of additively manufactured metals;
• Physical properties of additively manufactured metals;
• Mechanical properties and performance of metals processed via additive manufacturing, and the correlations between these properties and physical or microstructural features;
• Comparisons between different additively manufactured metals regarding their microstructural features, physical characteristics, or mechanical properties;
• Comparisons between different manufacturing processes, for example, regarding their energy consumption, production rate, or sustainability;
• Establishing correlations between the processing parameters and properties of additively manufactured metals.

We kindly invite researchers to submit their research to this Special Issue so that, together, we can form a valuable open-access guide for future investigations in this area.

Dr. Shahriar Afkhami
Dr. Sumit Ghosh
Dr. Mohsen Amraei
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.

• additive manufacturing
• powder bed
• direct deposition
• metals
• microstructure
• mechanical properties