Editorial: Novel Materials for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Editorial del volum 19, número 8 de la revista "Materials", publicat l'11 d'abril de 2026 per MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

In recent decades, additive manufacturing (AM) techniques have been used to produce all kinds of materials, initially polymers. It is a continuously growing field of research with ongoing technical improvements and applications to new types of materials. This Special Issue is dedicated to additive manufacturing, which traditionally was static 3D printing [1,2]. However, a new approach is 4D printing, which adds the dimension of time to 3D printing, enabling objects to modify shape, enhance properties, or improve functionality autonomously after production [3]. The additive manufacturing process usually involves the fabrication of three-dimensional parts directly from CAD models by adding materials layer by layer. Thus, it is able to build components with complex geometries. It is being applied in the processing of all types of materials, whether traditional (ceramics, metals, polymers, composites) [4,5,6,7], biological [8], or food-related [9]. The objective of this Special Issue was to collect articles concerning the applications of different additive manufacturing techniques, such as stereolithography, digital light processing, selective laser sintering/melting, electron beam melting, fusion deposition modeling, multijet/polyjet 3D printing, direct injection writing, and laminated object manufacturing. A set of nine articles have been published. Therefore, not all processes and materials have been covered. However, taken together, they provide an initial overview of several areas of ongoing research