Material-structure-performance integrated laser-metal additive manufacturing

Cross-scale coordination Laser-based additive manufacturing has the potential to revolutionize how components are designed. Gu et al. suggest moving away from a strategy that designs and builds components in a serial manner for a more wholistic method of optimization for metal parts. The authors summarize several key developments in laser powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition and outline a number of issues that still need to be overcome. A more integrated approach will help to reduce the number of steps required for fabrication and expand the types of structures available for end-use components. Science , abg1487, this issue p. eabg1487