Surface Engineering and Materials for Powder Metallurgy Components

Dear Colleagues,

Powder metallurgy has become a key enabling technology for the development of advanced materials and components with tailored microstructures, engineered surfaces, enhanced functional performance, and efficient use of resources. Continuous advances in powder production, consolidation techniques, surface modification strategies, and post-processing routes have significantly expanded the range of achievable material properties and applications. As a result, powder metallurgy now plays a central role in the design and manufacturing of high-performance components where surface integrity, durability, and multifunctionality are critical.

This Special Issue of Coatings, titled “Surface Engineering and Materials for Powder Metallurgy Components”, is dedicated to highlighting recent advances in materials design, processing routes, surface engineering approaches, and functional performance of powder-processed components. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the relationships between processing conditions, microstructure evolution, surface characteristics, and service behavior, as well as on the integration of powder metallurgy with advanced coating and surface modification technologies.

Contributions focusing on emerging approaches such as additive manufacturing, surface functionalization, mechanical alloying, computational modeling, and advanced design methodologies are especially encouraged. In addition, this Special Issue aims to showcase case studies and industrial applications of surface-engineered powder metallurgy components across key sectors, including automotive, aerospace, energy, tooling, and biomedical industries.

The objective of this Special Issue is to provide an interdisciplinary platform for researchers, engineers, and practitioners to present recent advances, promote academic exchange, and discuss current challenges and future opportunities in surface engineering, materials development, and performance optimization of powder metallurgy components.

The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

• Surface engineering fundamentals in powder metallurgy components, including surface integrity, roughness control, and functionalization strategies;
• Processing–microstructure–surface–property relationships in powder metallurgy-based materials;
• Design and development of metallic materials and alloys for surface-critical powder metallurgy components;
• Hybrid materials, metal matrix composites, and surface-reinforced systems derived from powder-based processing;
• Mechanical alloying, high-energy milling, and their role in tailoring surface-sensitive microstructures and functional properties;
• Additive manufacturing and powder-based fabrication routes for surface-engineered components;
• Advanced sintering, densification, and post-processing techniques influencing surface performance (e.g., SPS, HIP, hot pressing, surface finishing);
• Powder metallurgy-based coatings, surface modification, and functional surface treatments;
• Integration of powder metallurgy with advanced coating technologies (e.g., laser cladding, PTA, thermal spraying, PVD/CVD, diffusion treatments);
• Tribological, mechanical, corrosion, and wear performance of surface-engineered powder metallurgy materials;
• Computational modeling and simulation of surface evolution, interfacial phenomena, and performance of powder-processed components;
• Artificial intelligence and data-driven approaches for surface design, materials optimization, and performance prediction;
• Case studies on industrial applications of surface-engineered powder metallurgy components (e.g., automotive, aerospace, energy, tooling, biomedical, manufacturing);
• Scale-up, industrial implementation, reliability, and sustainability aspects of surface-engineered powder metallurgy technologies;
• Emerging trends, challenges, and future perspectives in surface engineering and materials development for powder metallurgy components.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Raul Perez-Bustamante
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• surface engineering in powder metallurgy
• powder-based additive manufacturing and surface integrity
• surface functionalization and advanced coatings
• artificial intelligence and data-driven materials design
• industrial applications and emerging trends in surface-engineered powder metallurgy materials