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High Entropy Alloys, Refractory Materials and Advanced Metallic Materials: Mechanical Properties and Applications

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Metals and Alloys".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2026 | Viewed by 1389

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China
Interests: refractory metals; compound carbide; high-entropy alloy; thermodynamic calculation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha, China
Interests: alloys
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China
Interests: high-entropy alloy; microstructure characterization; densification mechanism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Advanced metallic materials, including high-entropy alloys, refractory metals, and their carbide derivatives, are central to innovation in high-temperature, high-strength, and extreme-environment applications. These materials exhibit exceptional mechanical properties such as ultra-high yield strength, remarkable fracture toughness, and excellent creep resistance up to 1500°C. They also demonstrate outstanding wear resistance, thermal stability, and oxidation/corrosion resilience under harsh thermal and mechanical conditions. Their unique microstructural features—including severe lattice distortion, tunable phase stability, and nanoscale precipitate architectures—enable them to exhibit unprecedented performance in next-generation aerospace propulsion systems, nuclear fusion reactors, advanced armor systems, and high-performance industrial machining. Moreover, their compatibility with additive manufacturing and coating technologies offers new pathways for manufacturing complex geometries and surface engineering solutions. These capabilities make them critical for pushing the boundaries of technology in sectors such as aerospace, energy, nuclear, defense, and advanced manufacturing.

This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in this field and foster discussion on the design, processing, characterization, and application of these materials. We welcome contributions that explore new compositional strategies—such as multi-principal-element alloys and complex carbides—and advances in manufacturing techniques, including sintering, coating deposition, and powder processing. Studies addressing mechanical behavior under extreme conditions, theoretical modeling, microstructure–property relationships, and real-world applications are particularly encouraged.

This interdisciplinary Special Issue aims to present research ranging from the fundamentals of advanced metallic materials to their applications, and we seek original papers and reviews that showcase new directions in material synthesis, performance evaluation, and technological integration.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Synthesis of high-purity powders and nanopowders for refractory metals and carbides;
  • Densification mechanisms and sintering technologies for advanced metallic systems;
  • Design and processing of novel high-entropy alloys and composites;
  • Deposition and performance of high-temperature coatings;
  • Theoretical prediction and computational modeling of multi-phase and high-entropy materials;
  • Mechanical and chemical behavior in extreme environments;
  • High-temperature applications of new metallic materials and composites.
  • We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Yafei Pan
Prof. Dr. Fenghua Luo
Dr. Siyao Xie
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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

  • high-entropy alloys
  • refractory metals
  • mechanical properties
  • high-temperature applications
  • spark plasma sintering
  • additive manufacturing
  • microstructure–property relationships
  • densification mechanisms
  • extreme environments

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 5577 KB  
Article
Electrochemical and Mechanical Performance of Magnetron-Sputtered AlCrFeVTi High-Entropy Alloy Coatings for Lead-Cooled Fast Reactors
by Shahid Ali, Zahid Hussain, Abdalelah H. Balal, Yuefei Jia, Naeem ul Haq Tariq, Aiman Mukhtar and Gang Wang
Materials 2026, 19(5), 1006; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19051006 - 5 Mar 2026
Viewed by 558
Abstract
High-entropy amorphous materials are attracting increasing attention due to their excellent corrosion resistance and radiation tolerance in nuclear environments. In this study, novel Al2Cr16Fe50V20Ti12 high-entropy alloy (HEA) coatings with thicknesses of 900 nm and [...] Read more.
High-entropy amorphous materials are attracting increasing attention due to their excellent corrosion resistance and radiation tolerance in nuclear environments. In this study, novel Al2Cr16Fe50V20Ti12 high-entropy alloy (HEA) coatings with thicknesses of 900 nm and 1400 nm were synthesized via magnetron sputtering and systematically evaluated for their structural, electrochemical, and mechanical performance. X-ray diffraction confirmed the amorphous nature of the coatings, while scanning electron microscopy revealed a denser, defect-free, and more uniform morphology in the thicker coating. Electrochemical testing in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution demonstrated a tenfold reduction in corrosion current density and nearly a twofold increase in charge transfer resistance for the 1400 nm coating, attributed to its improved passive film stability. Finite element modeling validated the experimental load–displacement behavior and revealed well-confined and uniformly distributed stress and strain fields within the coating. These findings establish the 1400 nm Al2Cr16Fe50V20Ti12 coating as a promising candidate for protective applications in chloride-rich and radiation-intense nuclear systems. Full article
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14 pages, 6257 KB  
Article
Optimizing SPS-Processed Pure Tantalum: Effects of Temperature, Pressure, and Time
by Hui Huang, Chen Gong, Shihai Miao, Jiaqi Zhang, Yu Zhang, Xia Liu, Ying Li, Yibo Wei and Yafei Pan
Materials 2026, 19(3), 621; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19030621 - 5 Feb 2026
Viewed by 488
Abstract
Pure tantalum (Ta) is widely used in applications such as capacitors and semiconductor coatings due to its high melting point, excellent corrosion resistance, and good biocompatibility. In this study, spark plasma sintering (SPS) technology has been employed to successfully prepare high-density, fine-grained pure [...] Read more.
Pure tantalum (Ta) is widely used in applications such as capacitors and semiconductor coatings due to its high melting point, excellent corrosion resistance, and good biocompatibility. In this study, spark plasma sintering (SPS) technology has been employed to successfully prepare high-density, fine-grained pure Ta through systematic optimization of sintering temperature, pressure, and holding time. The results indicate that sintering temperature plays a predominant role on the densification behavior. Increasing the sintering pressure and prolonging the holding time also contribute to further enhancing the densification. Under the process conditions of 1450 °C, 40 MPa, and a holding time of 10 min, the relative density of the sample reaches 98.7%. Microstructural analysis reveals that the sintering process of pure Ta can be divided into two main stages: densification-dominated and grain growth-dominated. When the relative density exceeds a threshold value (approximately 96% in this study), the grain size increases rapidly from 4.43 μm to 28.87 μm. This grain coarsening leads to a transition in the fracture mechanism from a mixed mode of intergranular and cleavage fractures to completely intergranular fracture, which significantly reduces the bending strength and plastic deformation capacity of the material. Full article
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