• Dominic Soldner, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg
• Katrin Wudy
• Julia Mergheim

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies with polymers, such as material-extrusion or powder bed fusion of plastics, have gained tremendous visibility and relevance in the industry throughout the recent years. The development of plastic-based AM processes from research tools towards industrial systems implies the use of new materials and novel process strategies. Establishing these novel materials and process strategies solely by experimental investigations can become rather expensive and time consuming, which motivates the use of validated numerical tools in order to gain further insight into the AM process. Thus, a close collaboration between experimental and numerical experts in order to build reliable digital twins on multiple time and length scales is indispensable.

The present mini symposium "Additive Manufacturing of Polymers - Towards the Digital Twin" brings together scientists with numerical and experimental expertise in the field of plastic AM. Only this unique combination of experts from different disciplines computational and mechanical engineering will boost the impact of plastic-based AM and allow the creation of a virtual AM lab. While the experimental expertise is necessary to identify remaining challenges during AM, as well as possibilities and limitations of measuring data, the numerical counterpart is required to build and validate corresponding tools. The goal is to provide a platform for an insightful, fruitful discussion about experimental and numerical challenges and observations, towards reliable digital twins.

This Mini Symposium aims to provide a platform to present recent investigative advances in plastic AM. Addressed plastic-based AM processes are mainly laser-based powder bed fusion, material extrusion, high-speed sintering, and vat polymerization. The topics include, but are not limited to:

- Advanced process simulations of plastic-based AM;
- Material simulation of plastic-based AM processes;
- Experimental validation of simulations;
- Experimental investigation on process monitoring and control;
- Fundamental investigations on the structure–process–property relation;