Advances in Additive Manufacturing of Polymers
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Processing and Engineering".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 September 2024 | Viewed by 113
Special Issue Editors
Interests: natural-fiber-filled polymers; non-newtonian fluid mechanics; composites; 3D printing; mechanical modeling; biomaterials; tissue engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: polymeric and composite materials; manufacturing and compounding processes; innovative plastics filled with natural fibers; mechanical properties; rheological properties; thermal properties; 3D printing; ageing and degradation phenomena; tribology and wear
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Additive manufacturing of polymeric materials is arguably the newest and most interesting set of plastics manufacturing methods that have been developed in the last 20 to 30 years. Indeed, as is well known, there are a large number of different techniques for polymers, the most popular ones being based on photopolymerization, material jetting, powder bed fusion and material extrusion. Despite additive manufacturing initially being thought of and applied for the realization of prototypes, it has recently gained popularity in household settings and even for small-scale production at an industrial level, and it is expected to grow even more, its market reaching about 20 billion dollars by 2033.
There are many reasons for this success, such as the possibility of realizing complex shapes, customizability, low cost for limited productions, and the affordability of printing apparatus for some additive manufacturing techniques, to cite just a few of them. Applications are still in their infancy and range from jewelry to biomedical devices and automotive, and much innovation is indeed devoted to this issue since it still is a relatively novel field of research.
On the other hand, as the various additive manufacturing techniques are not completely mature, several problems have also arisen that need to be solved. Perhaps the most important one is the processing time, but we can also count the relatively limited choice of polymers that are available, the cost of the raw materials, the mechanical properties of the final part and sometimes its aesthetical quality. One of the biggest issues arising in the additive manufacturing of plastics is eco-sustainability, since its increasing usage will inevitably lead to a large quantity of plastics produced worldwide, and this would in turn pose serious problems from an environmental point of view.
The aim of this Special Issue is to share information that can contribute to tackling and solving some of the problems discussed above, thus leading to much-needed improvements in this field. Research and review articles about all currently available additive manufacturing techniques, as well as novel ones, are warmly welcomed.
Dr. Francesco Mollica
Dr. Valentina Mazzanti
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. 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.
Keywords
- processing
- design
- mechanical properties
- rheology
- viscoelasticity
- additives and compounding
- applications
- life cycle assessment
- degradation and biodegradability
- natural-fiber-filled polymers
