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Multi-Principal Element Alloy Design and Surface Modification Technology

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A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). This special issue belongs to the section "Surface Characterization, Deposition and Modification".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 9046

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yinghao Zhou

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: high-entropy alloys; intermetallics; additive manufacturing; surface engineering

Prof. Dr. Pinghu Chen

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Guest Editor

College of Mechanical Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang, China
Interests: materials design; laser additive manufacturing; plasma electrolytic oxidation; corrosion-resistant and wear-resistant coatings; materials characterization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Dandan Liang

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Guest Editor

College of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai 201418, Chin
Interests: surface engineering; metallic glasses; high-entropy alloys; transition metal nitrides

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid development of modern industries, such as aerospace and automotive manufacturing and biomedical engineering, has led to higher performance requirements for materials. Alloy development through conventional design strategies based on one or two principal elements may have reached a bottleneck. Recently, the discovery of multi-principal element alloys and high-entropy alloys (HEAs) has opened up new possibilities, and they are considered to represent a flexible paradigm in developing novel alloys with desirable properties. Their design requires a deep understanding of complex alloying principles, thermodynamics, and kinetics. Besides the properties of bulk materials, surface modification technologies are also essential in tailoring the surface properties of materials, such as corrosion resistance, wear resistance, and biocompatibility, without sacrificing the bulk properties. Thus, a combination of multi-principal element design strategies and surface modification technologies can represent an effective way to enhance the overall mechanical properties, durability, and functionality of materials, which is of great significance in the development of modern industries.

Coatings, a leading journal in the field of material coatings and surface engineering, is pleased to announce this Special Issue, "Multi-Principal Element Alloy Design and Surface Modification Technology", which will bring together the latest research findings, innovative ideas, and cutting-edge technologies in these two intertwined fields. We welcome submissions of original research articles, review papers, and short communications, which may discuss, but are not limited to, the following topics:

Novel multi-principal alloy design concepts and computational methods;
Synthesis and characterization of multi-principal alloys;
Microstructure–property relationships in multi-principal alloys;
Surface modification techniques for multi-principal alloys, including, but not limited to, physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, electroplating, and thermal spraying;
Understanding the underlying mechanisms behind surface modification and alloying processes.

We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions and creating a high-impact Special Issue that will inspire further research and innovation in multi-principal element alloy design and surface modification technology.

Dr. Yinghao Zhou
Dr. Pinghu Chen
Dr. Dandan Liang
Guest Editors

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.

Keywords

multi-principal elements alloys
high-entropy alloys
surface modifications
mechanical properties
corrosion and wear resistance

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Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

33 pages, 9350 KB

Open AccessArticle

Machine Learning-Based Inversion of Axial-Segment Characterization for Spent Fuel Materials

by Qi Zhang, Zining Ni, Qi Huang, Chao Yang and Zhenping Chen

Coatings 2026, 16(3), 329; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings16030329 - 8 Mar 2026

Viewed by 460

Abstract

The burnup, initial enrichment, and cooling time of spent nuclear fuel collectively determine the activities of key gamma-emitting nuclides (e.g., ¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁷Cs, ¹⁵⁴Eu). In safeguards verification, a non-destructive assay (NDA) using radiation detectors can directly acquire the gamma-ray emission signatures associated with these characteristic nuclides. Previous studies have reported empirical relationships between the activities of nuclides such as ¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁷Cs, and ¹⁵⁴Eu and the assembly burnup. However, the non-uniform axial power distribution in fuel assemblies leads to variations in axial-segment burnup. Accordingly, this study utilizes a nuclide sample database of a typical pressurized water reactor (PWR) assembly generated by OpenMC 0.15.3 depletion calculations. The calculated results are analyzed, and a sensitivity analysis of the hydrogen-to-uranium atomic ratio (H/U) on the characteristic nuclides is presented, confirming the necessity of incorporating the H/U ratio as an input parameter to improve the cross-condition generalization of the surrogate models. Subsequently, MLP and CNN based on PyTorch 2.9.1 (CUDA 13.0 build: 2.9.1+cu130), and XGBoost 3.0.2 models are implemented to invert axial-segment burnup, initial enrichment, and the number densities of selected actinides under various discrete operating conditions based on characteristic nuclide activities. A comparative analysis of the prediction results from different feature inversion methods is provided. The results indicate that the MLP model performs best with Method A, which incorporates absolute ¹³⁷Cs activity and the ¹⁵⁴Eu/¹³⁷Cs ratio, achieving a relative prediction deviation of only 5.2% for initial enrichment. Under Method C, the XGBoost model attains a relative prediction deviation of only 0.9% for axial-segment burnup (BU_zone). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Principal Element Alloy Design and Surface Modification Technology)

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21 pages, 19144 KB

Open AccessArticle

Microstructural and Mechanical Properties of Y₂O₃ Modified Ti6Al4V Alloy Fabricated by Laser Powder Bed Fusion

by Jinyu Zhu, Yangping Dong, Huihua Zhang, Shuming Zhao, Guonan Ma, Wentian Zhao, Renyi Lu, Pengwei Yang, Guang Yang, Xin Zhang, Yifei Li, Dongzi Wu, Liang Zhong and Peng Xu

Coatings 2026, 16(3), 315; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings16030315 - 5 Mar 2026

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 623

Abstract

A Ti6Al4V alloy fabrication via laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) leads to the formation of coarse columnar β grains that give rise to anisotropic mechanical properties and inadequate strength. Incorporating the rare-earth oxide, yttrium oxide (Y₂O₃), has proven an effective strategy in enhancing the mechanical performance of Ti6Al4V alloys. Nevertheless, the critical Y₂O₃ content required to achieve an optimal strength–ductility balance in L-PBF Ti6Al4V has not been systematically determined. To address these critical gaps, this study, for the first time, systematically investigates the effect of various Y₂O₃ contents on the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of Ti6Al4V alloys fabricated via L-PBF. The results demonstrate that a Y₂O₃ addition of 0.2 wt.% produces β grains and α phases with average sizes of 61.6 and 7.6 μm, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy observations reveal that Y₂O₃ nanoparticles, together with elemental Y nanoparticles formed by reduction, are distributed both within the α-Ti matrix and along phase boundaries. This distribution effectively reinforces grain boundaries and promotes heterogeneous nucleation, thereby refining the microstructure. Mechanical property tests indicate that the alloy strength significantly improves as the Y₂O₃ content increases. Specifically, the alloy with 0.2 wt.%Y₂O₃ exhibits a tensile strength of 1106 MPa, a yield strength of 1074 MPa, and an elongation of 10.7%. This study proposes an innovative rare-earth strengthening method for refining the microstructure of L-PBF-fabricated titanium alloys and comprehensively enhancing their mechanical properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Principal Element Alloy Design and Surface Modification Technology)

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20 pages, 12762 KB

Open AccessArticle

Regulating Microstructure Evolution and Strengthening Mechanisms in Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloy via Pre-Aging Treatment

by Jingchuan Tang, Kai Zhang and Ruiqing Li

Coatings 2026, 16(2), 247; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings16020247 - 14 Feb 2026

Viewed by 481

Abstract

This study significantly enhances the mechanical properties of an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy through the implementation of a pre-aging process. By optimizing the microstructure of the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy with different pre-aging treatments, the evolution of the microstructure and mechanical properties of the alloy initially containing GP I, GP II, and η′ phases is systematically investigated during aging at 140 °C. The experimental results show that, under the three pre-aging processes, the peak tensile strengths are 590.8 MPa, 594.0 MPa, and 612 MPa, respectively, while the corresponding elongation rates are 8.2%, 8.4%, and 10.3%. When pre-aging produces an initial microstructure containing GP I and GP II, these GP zones rapidly coarsen within the grains during subsequent aging. This makes it difficult for solute atoms to diffuse to the grain boundaries, resulting in finer grain boundary precipitates and ultimately leading to a lower alloy strength. When the pre-aging temperature is 120 °C, the pre-aging process can reduce the vacancy concentration, thereby suppressing the phase transformation from η′ to η precipitates. For samples pre-aged to the η′ phase, solute atoms diffuse to the grain boundaries, resulting in grain boundary precipitates with a greater length during subsequent aging compared to the other two samples. These grain boundary precipitates exhibit a discontinuous distribution along the grain boundaries, which contributes to the improved elongation of the alloy. The present work provides a novel heat treatment strategy for producing high-strength Al alloys while effectively achieving a favorable balance between strength and ductility. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Principal Element Alloy Design and Surface Modification Technology)

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28 pages, 13194 KB

Open AccessArticle

Research on the Wrinkle Behavior of X80 Pipeline and B-Type Sleeve Repair Based on Finite Element Method

by Hao Zhang, Yuxing Li, Hui Han, Zhibo Guo and Ruibo Guo

Coatings 2025, 15(10), 1191; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings15101191 - 10 Oct 2025

Viewed by 999

Abstract

Pipelines are critical infrastructure for energy transportation, but long-term service under complex loading can cause local buckling failures. This study investigates the wrinkle behavior of API-X80 pipelines under combined internal pressure and bending using finite element analysis. The results show that increasing internal pressure significantly improves structural stability and delays wrinkle formation by suppressing cross-sectional ovalization. Wrinkle growth and protrusion height were quantified under various geometric and load conditions. Furthermore, a convex B-type sleeve repair method was modeled and optimized using response surface methodology and genetic algorithms. The optimized sleeve design effectively mitigates stress concentration around the defect area. This work provides a theoretical foundation for understanding wrinkle mechanisms and enhancing pipeline integrity under complex loads. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Principal Element Alloy Design and Surface Modification Technology)

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30 pages, 9143 KB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Numerical Simulation of Ultrasonic Field During Five-Source Ultrasound-Assisted Casting of 2219 Al Alloy

by Chengqun Zhou, Weimin Zhang, Ruiqing Li, Ripeng Jiang and Renjun Hu

Coatings 2025, 15(10), 1151; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings15101151 - 3 Oct 2025

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1032

Abstract

In this study, the distribution of the acoustic pressure field and cavitation threshold region in Al alloy casting under two five-source ultrasound arrangements (A and B) is investigated, aiming to optimize the five-source ultrasound configuration to improve casting quality. Numerical simulations were conducted using COMSOL software (COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0) to analyze the propagation characteristics of ultrasound in the Al melt and its influence on the cavitation effect under the two arrangements. The simulation results indicate that the cavitation threshold region for arrangement A is slightly larger than that for arrangement B. Furthermore, arrangement A demonstrates superior performance in terms of the uniformity of sound pressure distribution and the reduction in the cavitation threshold. Based on the simulation results, arrangement A was selected for experimental validation. The experimental results reveal that arrangement A, with a radial rod distance (L) of 200 mm from the center point and an insertion depth (H) of 270 mm, significantly refines the grains and improves the distribution of the second phase, thereby confirming the reliability of the simulation results. This study provides a theoretical foundation and practical guidance for the application of five-source ultrasound in Al alloy casting. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Principal Element Alloy Design and Surface Modification Technology)

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22 pages, 6960 KB

Open AccessArticle

Synergistic Effect of Hetero Interstitial Atoms (C/N/O) on the Thermodynamic Stability in BCC Fe: A DFT Study

by Fang Wang, Tengge Mi, Pinghu Chen, Hongmei Zhu, Yong Chen, Pengbo Zhang, Ruiqing Li and Changjun Qiu

Coatings 2025, 15(8), 929; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings15080929 - 8 Aug 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2256

Abstract

Laser cladding rapid solidification technique is an effective strategy for manufacturing ultra-high-strength martensitic stainless steels (UHS-MSS). Due to super-saturation solution strengthening of interstitial atoms (IAs), martensitic stainless steels containing IAs exhibit excellent ultra-high strength and toughness and have high tolerance for oxygen impurities. Hence, studying the specific speciation and structural characteristics of IAs is of great significance for guiding laser cladding of ultra-high-strength steels. Herein, we use density functional theory (DFT) computations to analyze the stable occupancies of IAs and their interactions in body-centered cubic iron (BCC Fe). The findings show that single IAs prefer to occupy octahedral sites over tetrahedral sites. Therefore, octahedral sites are selected as the optimal sites for the following double IAs study. For homo IAs, C-C and N-N configurations exhibit greater stability at long-range distances, whereas O-O demonstrate optimal stability at intermediate distances. Crucially, hetero IAs configurations are more stable compared to single IAs and homo IAs, exhibiting a synergistic effect. Especially, the C-O combination shows the highest stability and strongest bonding character. Meanwhile, the dissociation behavior of O indicates that C-O and N-O have higher dissociation temperatures than single O, further verifying the synergistic effect of hetero IAs. This provides a theoretical basis for understanding the interstitial solution strengthening of laser cladding UHS-MSS. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Principal Element Alloy Design and Surface Modification Technology)

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14 pages, 5840 KB

Open AccessArticle

Paint Removal Performance and Sub-Surface Microstructural Evolution of Ti6Al4V Alloy Using Different Process Parameters of Continuous Laser Cleaning

by Haoye Zeng, Biwen Li, Liangbin Hu, Yun Zhang, Ruiqing Li, Chaochao Zhou and Pinghu Chen

Coatings 2025, 15(8), 916; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings15080916 - 6 Aug 2025

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1352

Abstract

Laser cleaning technology has been increasingly applied in the removal of damaged protective coatings from aircraft components due to its environmental friendliness and high efficiency. Appropriate laser cleaning process parameters improve cleaning efficiency while preventing substrate damage. In this study, a Gaussian continuous-wave laser was used to remove the 120 μm coating on the surface of Ti6Al4V alloy. The influence of laser power (100 W to 200 W) and scanning speed (520 mm/min to 610 mm/min) on the paint removal effect was explored based on paint removal rate, surface roughness, microstructural evolution, and the hardness’ change in the direction of heat transfer. The results reveal that optimal paint removal parameters are achieved at a laser power of 100 W with a scanning speed of 550 mm/min. The surface roughness of the sample after paint removal (55 nm) is similar to that of the original substrate (56 nm). Through EBSD analysis, the influence of laser thermal accumulation on the microstructure of the substrate is relatively small. The average hardness of the cross-section after cleaning was 347 HV, which was only 3.41% higher than that of the original substrate. This confirms that parameter-controlled laser cleaning can effectively remove ~120 μm thick paint layers without inflicting damage on the substrate. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Principal Element Alloy Design and Surface Modification Technology)

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13 pages, 4643 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Optimizing Substrate Bias to Enhance the Microstructure and Wear Resistance of AlCrMoN Coatings via AIP

by Haoqiang Zhang, Jia Liu, Xiran Wang, Chengxu Wang, Haobin Sun, Hua Zhang, Tao Jiang, Hua Yu, Liujie Xu and Shizhong Wei

Coatings 2025, 15(6), 673; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings15060673 - 1 Jun 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1028

Abstract

In this work, arc ion plating (AIP) was employed to deposit AlCrMoN coatings on cemented carbide substrates, and the effects of substrate bias voltages (−80 V, −100 V, −120 V, and −140 V) on the microstructures, mechanical properties, and tribological behaviors of the coatings were investigated. The results showed that all AlCrMoN coatings exhibited a single-phase face-centered cubic (FCC) structure with columnar crystal growth and excellent adhesion to the substrate. As the negative bias voltage increased, the grain size of the coatings first decreased and then increased, while the hardness and elastic modulus showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing, with the maximum hardness reaching 36.2 ± 1.33 GPa. Room-temperature ball-on-disk wear tests revealed that all four coatings demonstrated favorable wear resistance. The coating deposited at −100 V exhibited the lowest average friction coefficient of 0.47 ± 0.02 and wear rate ((3.27 ± 0.10) × 10⁻⁸ mm³/(N∙m)), featuring a smooth wear track with minimal oxide debris. During the steady-state wear stage, the dominant wear mechanisms of the AlCrMoN coatings were identified as oxidative wear combined with abrasive wear. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multi-Principal Element Alloy Design and Surface Modification Technology)

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