Additive Manufacturing for Sustainable Production: Materials, Processes, and Life Cycle Assessment
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 May 2027 | Viewed by 278
Special Issue Editors
Interests: additive manufacturing; 3D printing; material characterization; polymers; biomaterials; bioengineering; agricultural engineering; biomedical engineering
* Principal Research Fellow-Full Research Professor
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: additive manufacturing; 3D printing; material characterization; polymers; microprocessing
Interests: CircleU; drying technics and technologies; applied thermal engineering; renewable and secondary resources; food processing; agricultural engineering; additive manufacturing
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Additive manufacturing (AM) has become a key technology in the biomedical, agricultural, aerospace, automotive, and energy sectors, and as AM advances, there is growing interest in whether it can truly contribute to more sustainable manufacturing systems. While the potential benefits of AM include material efficiency, lightweight design, and supply chain flexibility, its environmental performance depends greatly on material selection, process parameters, energy demand, and end-of-life treatment. These factors require rigorous and transparent evaluation.
We invite contributions to this Special Issue, “Additive Manufacturing for Sustainable Production: Materials, Processes, and Life Cycle Assessment”, which aims to present high-quality research addressing sustainability challenges in AM from both material and systems perspectives.
Aim of the Special Issue and relation to the journal scope
This Special Issue aims to advance understandings of sustainability in additive manufacturing by connecting material innovation with quantitative life cycle assessment (LCA). In line with the scope of Sustainability, we are concerned with advanced manufacturing processes, materials engineering, and sustainability assessment. The Special Issue will highlight research that evaluates environmental impacts across the full life cycle of additive manufacturing products and processes, while avoiding overly broad or purely conceptual discussions. The goal is to assemble a coherent collection of technically sound studies that offer meaningful insights into sustainable manufacturing practices.
Suggested themes and article types
Original research articles and review papers are welcome. Contributions may include, but are not limited to, the following research areas:
- Development and characterization of sustainable, recycled, and bio-based materials for additive manufacturing.
- Material processing–structure–property relationships in sustainable AM materials.
- Recycling strategies and circular economy approaches for AM feedstocks and printed parts.
- Energy consumption, process efficiency, and environmental hotspots in AM technologies.
- Life cycle assessment methodologies adapted to additive manufacturing processes.
- Comparative life cycle studies of additive versus conventional manufacturing routes.
- Design strategies and digital workflows enabling sustainability improvements in AM.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Zorana Golubović
Prof. Dr. Božica Bojović
Prof. Dr. Ivan Zlatanović
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. Sustainability 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 2400 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
- sustainable additive manufacturing
- life cycle assessment
- material innovation
- recycled materials
- bio-based materials
- circular economy
- environmental impact
- energy efficiency
- advanced manufacturing
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