From Processing to Performance: Microstructure Engineering in Advanced Metallic Alloys
A Special Issue of Crystals (ISSN 2073-4352) belonging to the section "Crystalline Metals and Alloys".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 October 2026 | Viewed by 1409
Editors
Interests: alloy design; materials sustainability; alloy processing; characterisation; strain hardening; fracture toughness; high-entropy alloys; steels; cryogenic temperature
Interests: mechanical properties; mechanical testing; metal forming; plasticity; processing of materials; additive manufacturing; metal cutting
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Modern metallic materials must satisfy ever-higher levels of mechanical performance while simultaneously addressing emerging constraints related to sustainability, resource efficiency, ethical sourcing of raw materials, and manufacturability. Meeting these competing demands necessitates deeper integration of alloy design, processing strategies, and microstructure engineering.
This Issue focuses on recent advances in processing-enabled microstructure engineering of advanced metallic alloys and the resulting impact on mechanical performance. Emphasis is placed on the thermomechanical processing routes that link microstructure engineering directly to deformation and hardening behaviours. Control over phase stability, grain size and morphology, defect structures, and microstructural heterogeneity enables the tuning of dislocation plasticity, transformation- and twinning-induced hardening, and secondary phase precipitation.
Contributions addressing a wide range of alloy systems (advanced steels, high-entropy alloys, nickel-based superalloys, high-performance aluminium alloys, etc.) are welcome. Experimental, computational, and integrated approaches combining advanced characterisation, in situ techniques, and structure–property modelling are encouraged. By linking processing routes to microstructural evolution and mechanical response, this Special Issue aims to highlight emerging design strategies and identify critical challenges for the next generation of high-performance, sustainable metallic alloys.
Dr. Antoine Hilhorst
Dr. Umberto Prisco
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-anonymized 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 2100 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
- alloy design
- thermomechanical processing
- phase transformations
- deformation mechanisms
- structure–property relationships
- high-performance alloys
- mechanical properties
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