Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.6
2.7
Journals
Crystals
Special Issues
Microstructure and Mechanical Behaviour of Structural Materials
share announcement

Microstructure and Mechanical Behaviour of Structural Materials

A special issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352). This special issue belongs to the section "Crystalline Metals and Alloys".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2024 | Viewed by 4908

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Saif Kayani

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Aluminum, Advanced Metals Division, Korea Institute of Materials Science, Changwon, Republic of Korea
Interests: metallic materials; material design; electron microscopy; deformation behavior; corrosion; crystallography
Dr. Byung Joo Kim

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Aluminum, Advanced Metals Division, Korea Institute of Materials Science, Changwon, Republic of Korea
Interests: solidification; multicomponent alloys; eutectic alloy; mechanical properties; material design

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

For many years, metallic materials have sparked interest in structural applications all over the world. Their applications range from the advanced aerospace and automotive industries to everyday household items. The performance of structural metallic materials primarily depends on their microstructure, which ultimately defines their mechanical properties. Thus, the microstructure–property relationship is critical in determining the performance behaviour of a structural component in a specific application. This Special Issue focuses on microstructural characterization, mechanical property evaluation, and deformation behaviour of commercial and advanced structural materials. We would like to compile cutting-edge original articles (full-length and communication) as well as review articles highlighting the diverse applications of alloys and steels.

Dr. Saif Kayani
Dr. Byung Joo Kim
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Crystals 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

  • Fe alloys and steels
  • lightweight alloys
  • powder metallurgy
  • microstructural analysis
  • deformation analysis

Published Papers (6 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 4842 KiB  
Article
Formation and Evolution of Interfacial Structure in Al–Si–Mg/Stainless Steel Bimetals during Hot-Dipping Process
by Byung-Joo Kim, Ha-Yoon Lim, Saif Haider Kayani, Yun-Soo Lee, Su-Hyeon Kim and Joon-Hyeon Cha
Crystals 2024, 14(4), 387; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14040387 - 21 Apr 2024
Viewed by 374
Abstract
Understanding trends in the formation of the intermetallic compound (IMC) layer in Al/Fe bimetallic composites can aid in significantly improving their mechanical properties. However, it is currently challenging to predict IMC layer formation during hot-dip aluminizing. Furthermore, the results from previous studies are [...] Read more.
Understanding trends in the formation of the intermetallic compound (IMC) layer in Al/Fe bimetallic composites can aid in significantly improving their mechanical properties. However, it is currently challenging to predict IMC layer formation during hot-dip aluminizing. Furthermore, the results from previous studies are difficult to compare owing to the variation in the process parameters used. Therefore, to understand how temperatures and holding times affect the thickness and hardness properties of IMC layers, we investigated the interfacial properties of aluminized stainless steel in molten Al-Si-Mg. AISI 420 stainless steel was hot-dip aluminized in an Al–Si–Mg alloy melt for 10–120 min at four different temperatures: 700, 750, 800, and 850 °C. Morphology, type, and element distribution of the phases formed in the reaction layer and the reduction rate of the aluminizing process were studied. Notably, while the reaction layer thickness increased with increasing aluminizing temperature when the holding time was low, long-term reaction caused the reaction layer to become thicker at lower temperatures. The mechanism of this morphological transformation is discussed. The results demonstrated effective trends in controlling the morphology of the intermetallic compound layer with respect to various hot-dip Al plating process parameters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microstructure and Mechanical Behaviour of Structural Materials)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 6349 KiB  
Article
Effect of Al-Cu-Fe Quasicrystal Particles on the Reinforcement of a Polymer–Matrix Composite: From Surface to Mechanical Properties
by Monika Kušter, Zoran Samardžija, Matej Komelj, Miroslav Huskić, Marko Bek, Gaël Pierson, Richard Kouitat-Njiwa, Jean-Marie Dubois and Sašo Šturm
Crystals 2024, 14(3), 216; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14030216 - 23 Feb 2024
Viewed by 831
Abstract
We examined the effect of Al59Cu25Fe13B3 (at.%) quasicrystalline (QC) reinforcement particles on the mechanical and surface properties of a polymer-matrix composite by applying a technical polymer polyphthalamide (PPA). The observed increase in the tensile Young’s modulus [...] Read more.
We examined the effect of Al59Cu25Fe13B3 (at.%) quasicrystalline (QC) reinforcement particles on the mechanical and surface properties of a polymer-matrix composite by applying a technical polymer polyphthalamide (PPA). The observed increase in the tensile Young’s modulus ranged from 1810 MPa for the pure polymer to 4114 MPa for the composite with a QC filling of 35 vol.%. The elongation at fracture decreased with the filling fraction, being equal to 16.9% for a pure polymer and dropping to 4.8% for the composite with a QC filling of 35 vol.%. The same trend was noticeable with flexural Young’s modulus, which ranged from 100 MPa for a pure polymer to 125.5 MPa for the composite with 35 vol.% of QC. It was found that the increase in the mechanical strength led to a simultaneous increase of brittleness, which was reflected in a decrease of the impact strength for a pure polymer from 98.5 kJ/m2 to 42.4 kJ/m2 for composites with a QC filling of 35 vol.%. In contrast, when filled with 5 vol.% of QC, the impact strength increased by 8%. The friction coefficient against 100C6 steel dropped from 0.15 for pure PPA down to 0.10 for 5 vol.% of the QC filling, followed by an increase to 0.26 for further QC fillings up to 35 vol.%. Interestingly, a local minimum of friction was achieved at filling factors between 5 to 20 vol.% of QC. Independently, a clear surfenergy minimum was also found for the composite material with 20 vol.% of QC filling associated with a net drop in the polar component of the surfenergy. Surfenergy refers to the surface energy related to the top of the oxide layer under ambient conditions. We hypothesise that this is related to the percolation threshold at about 13 vol.% QC, reflected in the observed behaviour of both the friction coefficient and surfenergy. For the pure QC annealed in air for 1 h at 500 °C significant wear tracks were observed accompanied by a wear debris formation. On the other hand, a pure polymer exhibited slightly visible wear tracks with no apparent debris formation, and for the composites with different QC filling factors, the wear traces were barely visible with negligible debris formation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microstructure and Mechanical Behaviour of Structural Materials)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

11 pages, 7619 KiB  
Article
Lattice Rotation Dependence on Microstructural Characteristics in a Low Carbon Steel
by Satish K. Shekhawat, Rajesh K. Khatirkar and Murat Demiral
Crystals 2024, 14(2), 186; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst14020186 - 13 Feb 2024
Viewed by 759
Abstract
The lattice rotation behavior of low-carbon (LC) steel subjected to tensile deformation was studied by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The EBSD scans of the same region were taken before and after tensile deformation. The rotation of the grains was found to depend on [...] Read more.
The lattice rotation behavior of low-carbon (LC) steel subjected to tensile deformation was studied by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The EBSD scans of the same region were taken before and after tensile deformation. The rotation of the grains was found to depend on a number of factors like the initial orientation, the size of the grains, the number of neighboring grains and the region of the grain. The region near the grain boundaries was found to have significant deviation from that of the interior of the grain. The lattice rotations were also simulated using DAMASK software. The simulations gave information about the state of stress for each grain and the strain gradients developed during the deformation. The orientation dependence of misorientation and geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) was also studied. It was found that the misorientations changed more gradually in α-fiber grains than in γ-fiber grains. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microstructure and Mechanical Behaviour of Structural Materials)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 7795 KiB  
Article
Microstructure and Defect Analysis of 17-4PH Stainless Steel Fabricated by the Bound Metal Deposition Additive Manufacturing Technology
by Valerio Di Pompeo, Eleonora Santecchia, Alberto Santoni, Kamal Sleem, Marcello Cabibbo and Stefano Spigarelli
Crystals 2023, 13(9), 1312; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13091312 - 28 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1125
Abstract
Metal additive manufacturing (AM) technologies can be classified according to the physical process involving the raw material as fusion-based and solid-state processes. The latter includes sintering-based technologies, which are aligned with conventional fabrication techniques, such as metal injection molding (MIM), and take advantage [...] Read more.
Metal additive manufacturing (AM) technologies can be classified according to the physical process involving the raw material as fusion-based and solid-state processes. The latter includes sintering-based technologies, which are aligned with conventional fabrication techniques, such as metal injection molding (MIM), and take advantage of the freeform fabrication of the initial green part. In the present work, 17-4PH stainless steel samples were fabricated by material extrusion, or rather bound metal deposition (BMD), a solid-state AM technology. The powder-based raw material was characterized together with samples fabricated using different angular infill strategies. By coupling different characterization technologies, it was possible to identify and classify major properties and defects of the raw material and the fabricated samples. In addition, microstructural modifications were found to be linked with the mesostructural defects typical of the BMD solid-state additive manufacturing technology applied to metals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microstructure and Mechanical Behaviour of Structural Materials)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

10 pages, 8720 KiB  
Article
The Analysis of Changes in the Crystal Structure of Near-Beta Titanium Alloy in the Solution-Treated and Aged Conditions after Static Tensile Testing
by Janusz Krawczyk, Łukasz Frocisz, Marcin Goły, Sylwia Tomasik and Tomasz Śleboda
Crystals 2023, 13(8), 1223; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13081223 - 08 Aug 2023
Viewed by 754
Abstract
Titanium alloys are characterized by insufficient ductility. One of the parameters affecting their ductility is their crystal structure and texture. The present study characterizes the changes in the crystallographic texture of the Ti-3Al-8V-6Cr-4Zr-4Mo alloy in solution-treated and aged conditions on the basis of [...] Read more.
Titanium alloys are characterized by insufficient ductility. One of the parameters affecting their ductility is their crystal structure and texture. The present study characterizes the changes in the crystallographic texture of the Ti-3Al-8V-6Cr-4Zr-4Mo alloy in solution-treated and aged conditions on the basis of texture intensity indices and pole figures. Analysis of crystal structure changes was performed before and after tensile testing. The investigated alloy in the solution-treated condition showed a single-phase β-solution structure with a body-centered cubic (BCC) crystal structure. The process of β phase aging affected the result of the tensile test, affecting the parameters of the texture of the β phase. The analysis of the texture intensity indices for each set of planes (hkl) related to the intensity for the plane (110) indicated that the highest texture intensity occurs for β titanium alloy aged at 550 °C both before and after tensile test. After plastic deformation, the largest difference with respect to the benchmark value was observed for the (220) and (310) planes. The least amount of texture intensity occurred after aging at 450 °C. The most varied values of diffraction peak intensity in relation to the benchmark were obtained for the alloy aged at 450 °C for the (310), and (200) and (211) planes, indicating the dominance of the (211) orientation, where an elongation of 10.4% was achieved. For the highest elongation of 14.2%, achieved for the sample solution-treated at 550 °C, the diffraction peak intensities were intermediate with the dominance of peaks from the planes (200) and (310). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microstructure and Mechanical Behaviour of Structural Materials)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 5944 KiB  
Article
Grain Refinement and Strengthening of an Aluminum Alloy Subjected to Severe Plastic Deformation through Equal-Channel Angular Pressing
by Atef Korchef and Imen Souid
Crystals 2023, 13(8), 1160; https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst13081160 - 26 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 781
Abstract
In the present study, the microstructure, mechanical properties, and stored energy of an aluminum alloy containing iron-rich fine precipitates, subjected to severe plastic deformation through equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP), were investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force [...] Read more.
In the present study, the microstructure, mechanical properties, and stored energy of an aluminum alloy containing iron-rich fine precipitates, subjected to severe plastic deformation through equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP), were investigated using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Up to four passes through ECAP resulted in significant nanometer-scale grain refinement, as well as the accumulation of lattice defects, such as dislocations and mesoscopic shear planes. This resulted in a noticeable enhancement in the Vickers microhardness and the flow stress after ECAP. Differential scanning calorimetry results showed that the ECAP’ed material exhibited two exothermal peaks at 222 ± 2 °C and 362 ± 2 °C, with total thermal effects of ΔH = 4.35 and 6.5 J/g, respectively. Slight increases in the ECAP’ed material microhardness and flow stress were observed at 200 °C. The heat release, at a relatively low temperature, and the slight improvement in the mechanical properties were attributed to the evolution of low- and high-angle misorientation, with the strain and the pinning of tangled dislocation caused by the existing fine particles. The second peak was attributed to grain growth, resulting in a significant softening of the material. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microstructure and Mechanical Behaviour of Structural Materials)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-6
Back to TopTop