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Special Issue "Metallic Materials: Structure Transition, Processing, Characterization 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 October 2023 | Viewed by 3916

Special Issue Editor

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China
Interests: surface modification; surface chemical heat treatment; plasma nitriding; wear resistance

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to publish scientific papers on the topic “Metallic Materials: Structure Transition, Processing, Characterization and Applications”. Contributions may include original scientific articles concerned with fundamental and applied aspects of research or direct applications of metallic materials.

This Special Issue will provide readers with up-to-date information on the recent progress in the structure transition, processing, characterization and applications of metals. Papers submitted to this journal are expected to be in line with the following aspects in processes, and properties/performance:

  • Enhancing the properties of metals by advanced element design;
  • Novel heat treatment technology; 
  • Novel surface modification technology;
  • Novel methodologies for characterization of the microstructure and properties;
  • Novel processing technology.

Manuscripts must be written in good English and contain a balanced and up-to-date reference list formatted according to the guide for authors.

Prof. Dr. Jing Hu
Guest Editor

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. 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 2300 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

  • advanced element design
  • heat treatment
  • surface modification
  • methodology
  • wear resistance
  • hardness
  • corrosion resistance
  • tensile strength
  • microstructure

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

Article
The Effect of Novel Complex Treatment of Annealing and Sandblasting on the Microstructure and Performance of Welded TA1 Titanium Plate
Materials 2023, 16(6), 2149; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16062149 - 07 Mar 2023
Viewed by 288
Abstract
The welding titanium cathode roller has the obvious advantages of low cost, high efficiency, and no diameter restriction. Unfortunately, the longitudinal weld on the cathode roller adversely impacts the quality of the electrolytic copper foil due to the great difference between the microstructure [...] Read more.
The welding titanium cathode roller has the obvious advantages of low cost, high efficiency, and no diameter restriction. Unfortunately, the longitudinal weld on the cathode roller adversely impacts the quality of the electrolytic copper foil due to the great difference between the microstructure of the weld zone and the base metal. Thus, it is crucial to reduce their difference by regulating the microstructure of the weld zone. In this study, a novel complex treatment of heat treatment and sandblasting is primarily developed for regulating the microstructure of the weld zone. The results show that the novel complex treatment has an efficient effect on regulating the microstructure of the weld zone and making the microstructure in the weld zone close to that of the base metal. During vacuum annealing, the microstructure of the weld zone is refined to some degree, and 650 °C annealing has the optimal effect, which can effectively reduce the ratio of α phase’s length to width and reduce the microstructure difference between the weld zone and the base metal. At the same time, with an increase in the annealing temperature, the tensile strength and yield strength decreased by about 10 MPa; the elongation after fracture increased by 20%; the average microhardness of the WZ and the HAZ decreased by about 10 HV0.10; and that of the BM decreased by about 3 HV0.10. The heat treatment after welding can effectively adjust the properties of the weld zone, reduce the hardness and strength, and improve the toughness. The subsequent sandblasting after annealing can further refine the grain size in the weld zone and make the microstructure in the weld zone close to that of the base metal. Sandblasting after annealing can further refine the grain in the weld zone and make the microstructure in the weld zone close to that of base metal. Meanwhile, an application test confirmed that the adverse impact of a longitudinal weld on the quality of electrolytic copper foil could be resolved by adopting this novel complex treatment. Therefore, this study provides valuable technical support for the “welding” manufacturing of the titanium sleeves of the cathode roller. Full article
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Article
Effect of Pulsed Magnetic Field on the Microstructure of QAl9-4 Aluminium Bronze and Its Mechanism
Materials 2022, 15(23), 8336; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15238336 - 23 Nov 2022
Viewed by 568
Abstract
The effect of a pulsed magnetic field on the microstructure of a QAl9-4 aluminium bronze alloy was studied in this work. It was found that the dislocation density, grain boundary angle, and microhardness of the alloy significantly changed after the magnetic field treatment [...] Read more.
The effect of a pulsed magnetic field on the microstructure of a QAl9-4 aluminium bronze alloy was studied in this work. It was found that the dislocation density, grain boundary angle, and microhardness of the alloy significantly changed after the magnetic field treatment with a peak magnetic induction intensity of 3T, pulse duration of about 100 us, pulse interval of 10 s, and pulse time of 360. EBSD was used to test the KAM maps of the alloy microzone. It was found that the alloy’s dislocation density decreased by 10.88% after the pulsed magnetic field treatment; in particular, the dislocation in the deformed grains decreased significantly. The quantity of dislocation pile-up and the degree of distortion around the dislocation were reduced, which decreased the residual compressive stress on the alloy. Dislocation motion caused LAGB rotation, which reduced the misorientation of adjacent points inside the grain. The magnetic field induced the disappearance of deformation twins and weakened the strengthening effect of twins. The microhardness test results show that the alloy’s microhardness decreased by 8.06% after pulsed magnetic field treatment. The possible reasons for the magnetic field effect on dislocation were briefly discussed. The pulsed magnetic field might have caused the transition to the electronic energy state at the site of dislocation pinning, which led to free movement of the vacancy or impurity atom. The dislocation was easier to depin under the action of internal stress in the alloy, changing the dislocation distribution and alloy microstructure. Full article
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Article
Characterization of Carbide Precipitation during Tempering for Quenched Dievar Steel
Materials 2022, 15(18), 6448; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15186448 - 16 Sep 2022
Viewed by 796
Abstract
Carbide precipitation and coarsening are investigated for quenched Dievar steel during tempering. Lath/lenticular martensite, retained austenite, lower bainite, auto-tempered, and larger spherical carbides are all observed in the as-quenched condition. The carbide precipitation sequence on tempering is ascertained to be: M8C [...] Read more.
Carbide precipitation and coarsening are investigated for quenched Dievar steel during tempering. Lath/lenticular martensite, retained austenite, lower bainite, auto-tempered, and larger spherical carbides are all observed in the as-quenched condition. The carbide precipitation sequence on tempering is ascertained to be: M8C7 + cementite → M8C7 + M2C + M7C3 → M8C7 + M7C3 + M23C6 → M8C7 + M7C3 + M23C6 + M6C; carbides become coarser on tempering, and the sizes for inter-lath carbides increase noticeably with increasing tempering temperatures due to the faster grain boundary diffusion, whereas the sizes for intra-lath carbides remain nearly constant. The rate of coarsening for carbides by tempering at 650 °C is much higher than those by tempering at 550 °C and 600 °C, due to the faster diffusion of alloying elements at higher temperatures. Full article
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Article
The Local Structure and Metal-Insulator Transition in a Ba3Nb5−xTixO15 System
Materials 2022, 15(13), 4402; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15134402 - 22 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 629
Abstract
The local structure of the filled tetragonal tungsten bronze (TTB) niobate Ba3Nb5xTixO15 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.7, 1.0), showing a metal-insulator transition with Ti substitution, has been studied by Nb K-edge extended X-ray [...] Read more.
The local structure of the filled tetragonal tungsten bronze (TTB) niobate Ba3Nb5xTixO15 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.7, 1.0), showing a metal-insulator transition with Ti substitution, has been studied by Nb K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements as a function of temperature. The Ti substitution has been found to have a substantial effect on the local structure, that remains largely temperature independent in the studied temperature range of 80–400 K. The Nb-O bonds distribution shows an increased octahedral distortion induced by Ti substitution, while Nb-Ba distances are marginally affected. The Nb-O bonds are stiffer in the Ti substituted samples, which is revealed by the temperature dependent mean square relative displacements (MSRDs). Furthermore, there is an overall increase in the configurational disorder while the system with Nb 4d electrons turns insulating. The results underline a clear relationship between the local structure and the electronic transport properties suggesting that the metal-insulator transition and possible thermoelectric properties of TTB structured niobates can be tuned by disorder. Full article
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Article
Development of Y2O3 Dispersion-Strengthened Copper Alloy by Sol-Gel Method
Materials 2022, 15(7), 2416; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15072416 - 25 Mar 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1099
Abstract
In this study, oxide dispersion-strengthened Cu alloy with a Y2O3 content of 1 wt.% was fabricated through citric acid sol-gel synthesis and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The citric acid sol-gel method provides molecular mixing for the preparation of precursor powders, [...] Read more.
In this study, oxide dispersion-strengthened Cu alloy with a Y2O3 content of 1 wt.% was fabricated through citric acid sol-gel synthesis and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The citric acid sol-gel method provides molecular mixing for the preparation of precursor powders, which produces nanoscale and uniformly distributed Y2O3 particles in an ultrafine-grained Cu matrix. The effects of nanoscale Y2O3 particles on the microstructure, mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of the Cu-1wt.%Y2O3 alloy were investigated. The average grain size of the Cu-1wt.%Y2O3 alloy is 0.42 μm, while the average particle size of Y2O3 is 16.4 nm. The unique microstructure provides excellent mechanical properties with a tensile strength of 572 MPa and a total elongation of 6.4%. After annealing at 800 °C for 1 h, the strength of the alloy does not decrease obviously, showing excellent thermal stability. The thermal conductivity of Cu-1wt.%Y2O3 alloy is about 308 Wm−1K−1 at room temperature and it decreases with increasing temperature. The refined grain size, high strength and excellent thermal stability of Cu-1wt.%Y2O3 alloys can be ascribed to the pinning effects of nanoscale Y2O3 particles dispersed in the Cu matrix. The Cu-Y2O3 alloys with high strength and high thermal conductivity have potential applications in high thermal load components of fusion reactors. Full article
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