3D/4D Printing with Polymers, Polymer Hydrogels and Adaptive Soft Materials

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is dedicated to recent advances and innovations in additive manufacturing (AM) and 3D/4D printing—terms that are used interchangeably—with polymers, polymer hydrogels, and adaptive soft materials. The intention is to capture advances in both materials and methods, technical challenges, and future perspectives. AM is a set of emerging technologies that enable fabrication of components using a simple layer-by-layer technique, which has continued to evolve through over 40 years of development. AM enables integration of computer-aided design and visualization of complex components and their efficient, reliable and flawless manufacturing. In general, AM embodies seven process categories namely, VAT photo-polymerisation, material jetting, binder jetting, material extrusion, powder bed fusion, sheet lamination, and directed energy deposition, and is considered to be one of the most versatile and promising technologies of this century. AM provides freedom of design, easy prototyping, customization, streamlined logistics, and opportunities to manufacture existing products in a new way and to create complex new products and shapes previously impossible using traditional fabrication methods.

The promising applications of 3D-printing are very broad across many industrial sectors including the aerospace, defense, automotive and construction industry. Moreover, AM is developing its capabilities at an accelerated pace in several medical fields including orthopedics, dentistry, hearing care, and surgery. With 3D scanning and printing techniques, patients can potentially have access to personalized prosthesis thoroughly tailored and customized to their exact body measurements. It is envisioned that the feasibility of four-dimensional (4D), a more recent and evolving AM technique, will potentially revolutionize biomedicine and customized prosthesis. 4D printing is a key enabler with a significant competitive advantage over 3D and involves 3D printing with smart materials that can respond to external stimuli and it also permits the creation of on-demand dynamically controllable shapes autonomously without human intervention. The key to 4D printing lies in the use of innovative adaptive materials. It has been predicted that AM market will reach ~$21 billion by 2020. Nevertheless, progression of AM is also facing significant challenges including product standardization, high cost of equipment and products, knowledge gap and complexity in intellectual property issues.

The goal of this Special Issue is to publish original research articles, as well as critical reviews and perspectives as well as communications and letters from leaders, in both academia and industry, on all aspects related to the recent advances in 3D/4D printing with polymers, polymer hydrogels, and adaptive soft materials.

Prof. Dr. Naba Dutta
Prof. Namita Roy Choudhury
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. Polymers 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 2700 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.