Laser Powder Bed Fusion of Metals and Alloys: Microstructure and Mechanical Properties
A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Industrial Technologies".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2025 | Viewed by 586
Special Issue Editors
2. State Key Laboratory for Advanced Forming Technology and Equipment, China Academy of Machinery Science and Technology, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: additive manufacturing; laser powder bed fusion; crystallographic texture; strengthening and deformation behavior of metals and alloys; powder metallurgy; rapid solidification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: additive manufacturing; cyclic plasticity; micromechanics; metal microstructure evolution
Interests: multi-field-assisted laser welding; laser additive manufacturing and repairing; laser cleaning; welding process monitoring and intelligent control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Among the different metal additive manufacturing technologies available, laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) has grained significant traction. It has been widely used in the fields of aerospace, energy, and medicine, among others, due to its high design freedom, the ability to produce complex components, and the reduced lead time and material waste. During the LPBF process, focused laser beam(s) irradiate selected regions on the metal powder bed, creating a high cooling rate (105–107 K/s) that can hardly be achieved through other traditional processing methods. The unique heating and cooling conditions offer LPBF materials highly non-equilibrium and heterogenous microstructure features that span across several length scale levels, namely nanometer to millimeter. These novel microstructure features exhibit intriguing mechanical performance such as higher hardness, enhanced strength–ductility synergy, and highly anisotropic damage tolerance. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of the evolution of microstructure in LPBF and harnessing the correlations between microstructure and properties are of great significance for additive manufacturing. This requires a multidisciplinary approach, integrating insights from materials science, mechanical engineering, as well as computational modeling and simulation.
We are pleased to invite you to contribute to our Special Issue, which aims to bring together recent advances from cutting-edge research and comprehensive reviews that advance the understanding of the microstructure evolution and mechanical behaviors of materials processed using LPBF. We invite contributions that explore experimental investigations, theoretical analyses, and computational modeling, with a focus on linking processing to microstructural outcomes and mechanical performance.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following topics:
- Development of novel alloys and composites for LPBF;
- Process monitoring and control;
- Defect analysis and suppression methods;
- Microstructural evolution in LPBF;
- Advances in microstructure and property control;
- Residual stresses and distortion in LPBF components;
- Post-processing techniques;
- Advanced applications of LPBF-processed metals and alloys;
- Computational modeling and simulation;
- Anisotropy in LPBF components.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Xianglong Wang
Prof. Dr. Séan B. Leen
Prof. Dr. Zhenglong Lei
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- metals and alloys
- laser powder bed fusion (LPBF)
- alloy development
- process-microstructure–property correlation
- defect analysis
- modeling and simulation
- post-processing
- process monitoring and control
- residual stresses and distortion
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