| Abstract Scope |
Additive manufacturing (AM) creates a hierarchy of interfaces, including melt-pool boundaries, grain boundaries, cellular solidification structures, and heterointerfaces between dissimilar materials. These interfaces strongly influence phase evolution, strengthening, strain partitioning, and mechanical compatibility, making them central to the performance of AM materials. Understanding their structure, chemistry, stability, and properties is therefore essential for further developing AM to create reliable and high-performance materials. This talk discusses interface engineering and interface-controlled behavior in directed energy deposition (DED)-processed materials, including 316L stainless steels, metal matrix composites, and functionally integrated materials with site-specific functionality. By tuning powder delivery, feedstock design, and melt-pool dynamics, we demonstrate the morphology, structure, and chemistry of AM-derived interfaces can be engineered across multiple length scales. Our results show that these interfaces can dominate local deformation, strain accommodation, and damage resistance. Together, these examples present DED as a versatile platform for designing interfaces and controlling performance in additively manufactured materials. |