Semi-solid Processing: Fundamentals and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Semi-solid metal (SSM) processing is an attractive method for manufacturing near-net-shape components with high integrity due to its distinct advantages over conventional forming technologies. After near fifty years of development, SSM processing has been successfully established as a unique technique for manufacturing high-integrity products with improved mechanical properties. Different from the conventional metal-forming technologies that use either solid state materials (forging) or liquid metals (casting) as starting materials, SSM processing employs a mixture of solid phase and liquid–metal slurries and/or non-dendritic feedstocks as starting materials, in which the globular solid particles of the primary phase are dispersed into a liquid matrix. SSM slurries exhibit distinctive rheological characteristics, including pseudoplastic (or shear thinning) and thixotropic performance. Since its original development in the 1970s, a number of SSM processes have been developed for shaping components using its unique rheological property. Significant progress has also been achieved in the fundamental scientific understanding of the formation of unique microstructures, the flow behaviours of SSM slurries, mechanical properties and shaping mechanisms.

This Special Issue mainly focuses on the updated understanding and development of alloys for SSM processes, techniques for generating non-dendritic microstructures and the associated mechanisms in the microstructural evolution of non-dendritic primary phase, the pseudo-plasticity and thixotropy of semi-solid slurry and non-dendritic feedstock, microstructural evolution during shaping, the die filling and deformation mechanisms of semi-solid slurry and non-dendritic feedstock, the mechanical properties of finished components and the mechanism of defect formation, which are all critical aspects for the success of SSM processing.

Prof. Dr. Shouxun Ji
Dr. Uthayakumar Marimuthu
Prof. Dr. Yuhong Zhao
Guest Editors

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