Non-conventional Technologies for Thermal/Thermo-Mechanical Treatment

Dear Colleagues,

Conventional metal processing, particularly heat treatment, significantly impacts resource exploitation and CO₂ emissions. Most energy sources in this sector are fossil-fuel-based or rely on electrical resistance furnaces. In both cases, the heat source comes from outside of the material, the use of heat is not optimal, and heating rates are restricted to however long it takes for the heat to transfer from the heater to the heat-treated part. In most of the above cases, the heating rates do not exceed the range of 2°C/s to 10°C/s. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in nonconventional heat treatment processes in which heating is carried out at very high speed via different heating sources, such as induction heating or resistive heating, via passing the current directly through the sample. These processes increasingly approach the stage of industrial technology.

This Special Issue is focused on the results of experiments and modeling studies conducted on such nonconventional technologies for thermal or thermo-chemical treatments where high and very high heating rates and very short soaking times are used. Alternatively, approaches with multiple thermal treatment steps, such as thermal cycling, thermo-chemical treatment, (nano) composite production, and magnetic materials, are a subject of interest. We encourage you to share your experience in this field by publishing your research on the applications of such innovative technologies for ultrafast heating, ultrashort annealing, ultrafast tempering, microwave synthesis, thermal cycling, and thermo-mechanical or thermo-chemical treatment on steels and nonferrous alloys, demonstrating the link between the processing parameters, microstructure, texture, and properties. 

Prof. Dr. Roumen Petrov
Dr. Ilchat Sabirov
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• nonconventional heat treatment
• ultra-fast heating
• ultra-short annealing
• thermal cycling
• steel
• advanced high-strength steels
• electrical steels
• nonferrous alloys
• microstructure
• texture
• properties
• (nano)composites