Dear Colleagues,

Engineering materials can be divided into three main classes: metallic materials, polymeric materials, and ceramics, which, together with their various forms of processing, give origin to thousands of engineering components at our disposal in the modern economy. In fact, humankind has been using materials since its inception to improve daily life, and innovative research on materials and technological processes still aims to achieve this purpose. Moreover, different materials have been implemented in a variety of ways, and, in a period, and for specific applications, new materials and/or new technological processes could originate from the substitution of a material by another if they satisfy the design requirements.

In addition, Additive Manufacturing (AM) is defined as a “process of joining materials to make objects from 3D model data, usually layer-upon-layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing methodologies, such as traditional machining”. In fact, since the invention of AM, its impact has continued to grow in both commercial and scholarly domains by the processing of several types of polymers and, more recently, metals. Therefore, this technology is shifting from prototyping to a dominant production industry.

In this Special Issue, the structural integrity of polymeric components produced by additive manufacturing will be addressed. We can say that most polymers, either natural or synthetic, thermoplastic or thermosetting, can be considered as cheap materials, also characterised by low densities and by a vast diversity of mechanical resistance, ductility, toughness, and viscoelasticity, to mention a few attributes. Their use increased tremendously since the 1930s, substituting steel, glasses, etc., and introducing an extensive list of new synthetic polymers in final products. Therefore, we would like to kindly invite you to present your research or technology results concerning the use of AM of polymers, covering a broad range of all the scientific areas of knowledge.

Thank you very much in advance for your kind attention and participation.

Yours sincerely,

Prof. Dr. Rui Fernando Martins
Prof. Dr. Ricardo Branco
Prof. Dr. Filippo Berto
Guest Editors

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• polymers
• additive manufacturing
• structural integrity
• mechanical engineering
• biomedical engineering
• automotive engineering
• aerospace and aeronautical engineering
• electrical engineering
• maintenance engineering
• orthodontics
• orthopedics
• failure analysis
• fatigue and fracture mechanics