As the quote of the great inventor Leonardo Da Vinci states “Nessuno effetto è in natura sanza ragione; intendi la ragione e non ti bisogna sperienza”, in nature there is always a reason for each effect. This fits well for the world of materials science and it is especially true in the case of physical metallurgy of light metals, my main research field, where relatively little variation in terms of composition and/or processing can lead to completely different behaviours of the starting material. In particular, I am interested in the development and/or improvement of the sustainability of light metals such as titanium, aluminium and magnesium via non-traditional fabrication methods. In a world where the main structural metal has mainly been steel since the industrial revolution, the understanding of the nature and behaviour of the light metals is becoming paramount because of some of their intrinsic advantages, like the lightweighting effect and its related aspects such as higher performances, reduction of greenhouse emission, environmental friendly nature and potential recyclability, especially if they are used to create high entropy alloys. Further developments in the understanding and application of light metals can come from both the modification of the material itself as well as through the design of novel production routes. A clear example is the implementation of "additive manufacturing", others near-net-shape techniques, which is revolutionising the industrial world because the components or products are, actually, built layer-by-layer from an engineered drawing rather than obtained by the removal of materials by means of sophisticated and, sometimes, difficult-to-perform machining operations with noticeable advantages among which more freedom in the design of complex products and saving material and fabrication costs.
