Metal additive manufacturing (AM) has evolved from a rapid prototyping tool into a manufacturing technology capable of producing complex high-performance components for aerospace, energy, biomedical and structural applications. Despite significant progress, widespread industrial adoption remains limited by challenges related to process stability, microstructure control, defect formation, mechanical performance and qualification. At the same time, metal AM is emerging as a transformative manufacturing route, that enables unique microstructures and combinations of properties that are difficult or even impossible to achieve through conventional processing. This symposium emphasizes materials-centric research aimed at understanding and controlling microstructure, defects and mechanical performance in metal AM. It will highlight advances in process–structure–property relationships that support robust, repeatable and high-performance AM components, addressing both fundamental mechanisms and emerging processing concepts. The symposium covers, but is not limited to, contributions addressing the following topics:

•  Metal AM processes and underlying process physics including laser and electron beam powder bed fusion, directed energy deposition and hybrid manufacturing routes.
• Process–microstructure relationships governing melt pool behavior, solidification, phase transformations, beam shaping and residual stresses.
• Alloy and microstructure design strategies for AM including multimaterials and functionally graded materials.
• Defect formation and degradation mechanisms and their impact on mechanical and functional performance.
• Mechanical behavior of AM metals including fatigue, fracture and creep.
• Post-processing, in situ monitoring and data-driven approaches for process control, qualification and certification.
   

Fatigue-driven degradation remains one of the leading causes of structural failure in engineering systems, especially in polymer and composite materials used in various applications including aerospace, automotive, wind energy, and civil infrastructure. Unlike metals, polymers and fiber-reinforced composites exhibit complex time-dependent, viscoelastic, and anisotropic fatigue behaviors governed by microstructural evolution, environmental interactions, and multiscale damage mechanisms.

This special session aims to bring together researchers and industry experts to discuss recent advances in experimental characterization,  and multiscale modeling for polymers and composite materials under cyclic loading and addressing lifetime prediction, and structural health monitoring. Topics of interest include crack initiation and propagation, fatigue-environment coupling, high- and low-cycle fatigue behavior, fatigue in additive-manufactured polymers, hybrid composites, durability under thermo-mechanical loading, and innovative design strategies for enhanced fatigue resistance.
 

As Confucius noted, failing to correct a mistake is a second error in itself. Failure analysis provides the essential bridge between damage and prevention by tracing progression to identify root causes. By examining physical evidence, engineers can make informed decisions to avert future failure.

Typical techniques such as metallography or fractography reveal microstructure-failure correlations or reflect the actual fracture pattern and existing damage conditions. Beyond these classical methods, further techniques have emerged in recent years, becoming increasingly common and providing valuable new information or making the failure analysis process more effective.

The topics of this session are:

• damage cases from various material categories and applications
• quantitative fractography in Failure Analysis
• microstructure-failure correlations
• introduction of automated procedures and AI support

This session welcomes a broad spectrum of studies addressing industrial challenges in aviation, particularly those driven by the urgent need for optimization or automation as well as broader sustainability goals. Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Innovations in Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO)
• Emerging inspection and repair methodologies
• Structural Health Monitoring (SHM)
• Engineering failure analysis and characterization
• Reliability analysis
• Condition-based and predictive maintenance (CBM/PdM)
• MRO decision-support systems

The development, analysis, and optimization of both advanced and additively manufactured materials and components require a deep understanding of their mechanical behavior, especially as influenced by microstructural features. Advanced manufacturing techniques, including additive manufacturing (AM), introduce unique challenges—such as high thermal gradients and process-specific defects—that may significantly affect material performance. This symposium will explore the intricate interplay between microstructure, defects, and mechanical properties across a range of materials including metals, polymers, ceramics, and composites. Emphasis is placed on understanding failure mechanisms under combined physics loadings, where mechanical stresses interact with thermal, environmental, or other physical forces to influence fracture behavior.

Composite materials play a central role in modern engineering systems due to their high performance and design flexibility. At the same time, their structural reliability, long-term durability and end-of-life management represent major challenges in the context of engineering against failure and sustainable development.

Failure behaviour in composite materials is governed by complex, multiscale damage mechanisms, strongly influenced by material architecture, environmental exposure, loading history and ageing processes. In parallel, increasing attention is being devoted to recycling and end-of-life strategies for composite materials, as recycling and reprocessing operations may significantly modify material integrity, damage evolution and residual mechanical performance, with direct implications for reliability, reuse and second-life applications.

Within this framework, particular attention will be given to sustainable composite systems, including bio-based, natural fibre reinforced and hybrid composites, in order to highlight similarities and differences in damage mechanisms, durability and failure behaviour.

This session aims to provide a focused forum on failure mechanisms, damage evolution, durability and recycling of composite materials, with emphasis on engineering methodologies for failure prevention, lifecycle performance assessment and reliable design. Contributions addressing experimental characterization, modelling approaches and application-oriented studies are encouraged, in line with the core themes of ICEAF on engineering against failure.

A short description of this session will be provided soon.

As the demand for materials that can survive extreme environments reaches an all-time high, High Entropy Alloys (HEAs) have emerged as a transformative solution of future exploration. Departing from the traditional "one-base-element" metallurgy concept, HEAs leverage vast compositional spaces and unique lattice distortions to achieve properties once thought mutually exclusive.

This session aims to bridge the gap between fundamental alloy design and industrial scalability. We invite researchers to present breakthroughs in High Entropy Alloy (HEAs) and/or Multi-Principal Element Alloys (MPEAs), focusing on how these complex systems challenge our current understanding of the topic.

Key points of interest can include (among others) the following topics:

• Processing Challenges and Additive Manufacturing (AM) Integration
• AI and High-Throughput Discovery Methods (ML, CALPHAD etc.)
• Microstructural Evolution and Stability Trends
• The "Cocktail Effect" in Extremes
• Mechanical Property Synergies
• Surface Degradation Phenomena and Environmental Resilience

Advanced materials have an increasing role in engineering, in various industrial applications. These materials operate in severe environments, withstand complex multi-axial loading conditions. Fracture of advanced materials is a major problem that may occur inside the structure and at the interfaces between the different materials. This symposium will accept papers that can highlight the following areas:

Fracture mechanics problems of structures from advanced materials, failure of composite structures under combined loading conditions. Comparison of computational and/or analytical and experimental methods in composite structures under different loading conditions. Interface problems in structures from advanced materials.

The proposed session will focus on cementitious and concrete-based systems as a major engineering domain where failures are often driven by coupled degradation mechanisms (thermal loading, corrosion, cracking, impact/blast, fatigue, environmental exposure) and where circular economy strategies can simultaneously enhance performance and reduce environmental footprint.

The session will bring together contributions on low-carbon binders and high-performance composites (e.g., geopolymers/alkali-activated materials, UHPC/UHPFRC and hybrid cementitious composites), and on resource-efficient concrete technologies using construction & demolition waste (CDW), quarry/industrial by-products and other secondary raw materials. Emphasis will be placed on how these materials can be engineered to prevent failure under demanding actions relevant to resilient infrastructure: high temperature and fire, impact/blast and dynamic loading, durability and multi-physical degradation, and interlayer/interface integrity (including additive manufacturing / 3D printing).

A key feature of the session is the integration of testing–modelling–data: advanced experimental characterization (including full-field methods and fracture/fatigue assessment), multi-scale/multi-physics simulation, and data-driven approaches (AI/ML) for mixture optimisation, performance prediction, uncertainty quantification, and circularity/LCA-informed decision-making.

Indicative subtopics (non-exclusive):

• Geopolymers/alkali-activated binders from wastes and by-products; high-temperature behaviour and fire safety
• UHPC/UHPFRC and hybrid laminates for retrofit and extreme actions (impact/blast/fire)
• Recycled aggregates and CDW valorisation: durability, processing, and quality assurance
• 3D printing/additive manufacturing of cementitious materials: rheology, buildability, interlayer failure
• AI/ML for mix design and strength/durability prediction; LCA/CE-driven design and optimisation