Front Cover Advanced Engineering Materials 6/2012

SLM is a direct AM technique that can be used to produce micro-porous structures with global morphological properties that are highly controlled through robust computer design. Despite these advantages, some AM techniques still hold several functional constraints, resulting from present technical device limits and consequently the inability to control surface morphology at a microscale level. A novel protocol for surface modification of 3D titanium alloy-based open porous structures is developed, applying a combination of chemical etching (CHE) and electrochemical polishing (ECP) using HF-based solutions. This protocol achieves a significant and controllable roughness reduction and homogenisation of 3D additive manufactured Ti6Al4V open porous structures. Further details can be found in the article by G. Pyka et.al. on page 363.