Page - (000009) - in 3D Printing of Metals

metals Editorial 3DPrintingofMetals ManojGupta DepartmentofMechanicalEngineering,NationalUniversityofSingapore,9EngineeringDrive1, Singapore117576,Singapore;mpegm@nus.edu.sg;Tel.:+65-6516-6358 AcademicEditor:HugoF.Lopez Received: 26September2017;Accepted: 28September2017;Published: 29September2017 3Dprintingisanemergingtechniqueofimmenseengineeringimportance,capableoftransforming thewaywemakecomponents. Ithasbeenexploredworldwideformetals, ceramicsandpolymers. 3Dprintingoffersseveraladvantagessuchas the following[1,2]: (a) Shorter leadtime (b) Lowcost (c) Smallvolumeofpartswithout theneedof toolingorfixture (d) Capability to fabricatenearnetshapes (e) Designfreedomthatallowsthe fabricationofsimpleandcomplexshapes (f) Potential tohandleconventionalandspecializedmaterials. Thepotentialbenefits that couldbederived if thescienceandtechnologyof3Dprintingwere tobeestablishedhavebeenthecruxbehindmonumentaleffortsbygovernments, inmostcountries, that investbillionsofdollars todevelopthismanufacturingtechnology.Multipleengineeringsectors are targeting the integration of 3Dprinting in theirmanufacturing section, especiallywhere the batchsize isnotbigandthepartsarespecialized. Theserequirementsareparticularlyapplicable to automotive [2], aerospace [3,4]andbiomedical sectors [5,6]. The current Special Issuewas targeted atmetal-basedmaterials as 3Dprinting ofmetals is particularlychallengingduetoahostofmicrostructuralchangesthatareencountered,especiallywhen themetalsandalloysareexposedtohightemperatures.Controlof thedimensionalaccuracyandend properties is stillbeingexploredbyresearchers fordifferent typesofmetalsandalloysas theresultsof onecompositional systemcannotbe translatedtoanothercompositional system.Overall,ninepapers (onereviewandeight researchpapers)havebeenpublishedin this issue. Thematerials investigated were the following: a. Aluminum-basedmaterials b. Magnesium-basedmaterials c. Steels d. Titanium-basedmaterials e. Oxidedispersion-strengthenedaluminum-basedcomposites This suggests that there is no preferredmetal system that is targeted by researchers but all importantmetallicmaterialsareequally targeted. 3Dprinting techniques thatwere utilized in the papers published in this issue included the following: a. Micro-coatingmetaladditivemanufacturing(MCMAM)—newtechnique b. Electronbeammelting c. Selective lasermelting d. Lasermetaldeposition Metals 2017,7, 403 1 www.mdpi.com/journal/metals