Dear Colleagues,

Additive manufacturing (AM), an alternative to conventional manufacturing processes, is often considered a disruptive production method. However, it can also improve conventional manufacturing by providing a better way to produce and repair/remanufacture tools and enhance operational performance. Part manufacturers use tooling to make other parts which can, thus, incorporate AM into the production chain.

This Special Issue focuses on additive manufacturing for tooling applications. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Materials, i.e., metal alloys, transition metals, semi-metals, metalloids, cermets, etc.;
• The interaction (i.e., microstructure, properties, etc.) between studied/targeted materials and design, including the material design, tool (i.e., part) design (i.e., generative design, topology optimization, lattice structure, and surface optimization), and AM process design (i.e., design for additive manufacturing);
• The consequences of studied material for tooling applications from powder atomization and AM to post-processing for toolmaking, tool repair and remanufacture, and tool surface treatment/functionalization from cyber-physically controlled processes and systems to quality assurance;
• The advantages and/or disadvantages of the studied material and its tooling application for lead and cycle times, scrap rate, total costs, time to market, break-even points, material and energy usage, circularity in the economy, sustainability, etc.

Prof. Dr. Nader Asnafi
Guest Editor

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. Metals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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
• tooling
• material
• design
• processes
• impacts
• repair
• remanufacture
• efficient operational performance