Degradation and Durability of Structural Materials in Harsh Service Conditions

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, titled “Degradation and Durability of Structural Materials in Harsh Service Conditions”, aims to gather high-quality original research articles, review papers, and short communications that focus on the degradation behaviors, mechanisms, and related characterization methods of structural materials under various harsh service environments. Structural materials are the backbone of civil engineering, marine engineering, aerospace, energy, and other key fields, and their long-term stability and reliability are critical to the safety and durability of engineering structures. Harsh service conditions, such as corrosion, high temperature, cyclic fatigue, extreme temperature variation, and chemical erosion, often lead to the degradation of structural materials, including mechanical property deterioration, structural damage, and even premature failure, which poses significant challenges to engineering safety and service life.

The scope of this Special Issue covers, but is not limited to, the following research directions:

(1) Degradation mechanisms of structural materials (e.g., steels, alloys, composite materials, and non-metallic structural materials) under harsh environments, including corrosion degradation, high-temperature damage, fatigue damage, impact damage, creep deformation, and synergistic degradation of multiple factors;

(2) Experimental characterization and numerical simulation of material degradation processes, such as microscopic structure evolution, mechanical property variation, and damage accumulation;

(3) Influencing factors of material degradation, including environmental parameters, material composition, preparation process, and service load;

(4) Evaluation methods and prediction models for the degradation degree and service life of structural materials in harsh conditions;

(5) New technologies and strategies for mitigating or preventing the degradation of structural materials, so as to improve their durability and reliability in harsh service environments.

We welcome contributions from researchers, engineers, and scholars who are engaged in the research of structural material degradation, aiming to provide a platform for exchanging cutting-edge research results, discussing key technical challenges, and promoting the development and application of structural materials with excellent performance in harsh service conditions. This Special Issue will contribute to a deeper understanding of the degradation mechanisms of structural materials and provide theoretical support and technical guidance for the design, optimization, and maintenance of engineering structures in harsh environments.

Dr. Fei Wang
Dr. Xuanyi Xue
Dr. Neng Wang
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. 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.