Dear Colleagues,

Titanium alloys have been widely adopted in many industrial applications because of their high strength, low density, and excellent corrosion resistance. Examples of their application include aircraft that require a high specific strength and excellent fatigue resistance, aero-engines that require a good creep resistance, and biomedical and chemical processing equipment where good corrosion resistance is critical.

The traditional methods used to manufacture titanium components (following casting, thermo-mechanical, and final finishing processes) are difficult and expensive because of titanium's low thermal conductivity, high tooling costs, and high affinity for oxygen pickup during thermal treatments. Additive manufacturing (AM) offers the advantage of allowing for near-net-shaped part fabrication using only one fabrication step, design flexibility, near-zero material wastage, and flexibility in manufacturing different types of components using other alloys, to name a few. Thus, the AM of titanium alloys has gained significant interest over the past decade.

Although the production of titanium parts using traditional techniques has been optimised over several centuries, the AM process is relatively new, and a detailed understanding of the relationship between the alloy's composition, processing history, microstructural evolution, and mechanical performance has not yet been developed. Such knowledge is critical. Variations in the composition and processing routes used will alter the material’s properties, which cannot necessarily be predicted from our well-established understanding of traditional manufacturing technologies.

We welcome your contributions to the latest developments in AM titanium alloys. For this open access Special Issue, we invite the submission of original research articles and review papers focused on (i) the development of titanium alloys for AM; (ii) the relationship between AM process parameters, the evolution of the resulting microstructure, and its functional properties; (iii) the effect of various heat treatments; (iv) mechanical performance and environmental effects; and (v) modelling and design for performance optimisation.

Dr. Vera Popovich
Dr. Thorsten Becker
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. 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 2000 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.

• titanium alloys
• additive manufacturing (AM)
• laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF)
• electron beam powder bed fusion (EB-LBF)
• direct energy deposition (DED)
• post-process treatment
• microstructural characterization
• modelling of mechanical and functional properties