Applications, Preparation and Characterization of Metal-Ceramic Nanocomposites

Dear colleagues,

In past times, it seemed that the technologies concerning the development, production and fields of use of metallic and ceramic materials had to be decidedly different from each other. Actually, the metallurgical and the ceramic sectors remained two deeply distinct realities, although their conceptual approaches were partly in common. The occurrence of metal-ceramic composite materials upset this point of view, as they may offer different, more advantageous solutions in many practical situations. This possibility arises from the almost infinite potential offered by nanotechnologies, which allows the scientific fantasy of researchers and technologist to no longer move in watertight compartments. The development of metal-ceramic composite materials occurred by setting up innovative interdisciplinary production techniques. Such techniques have multifarious goals such as: 1) their ecological sustainability; 2) the improved technological performance of the finished product; 3) the cost containment. On the whole, metal-ceramic composite materials exhibit a huge potential for practical applications and exploiting a good part of it represents a great challenge for the researchers and technologists all over the world. Thus, this special issue of Materials aims at giving to the reader a faithful portray of the state of the art of the research in the field of metal-ceramic composite materials by collecting valuable and, possibly, innovative works and reviews concerning all the aspects of their science and technology. In particular, knowledge regarding the development, characterization and use of nanostructured metal-ceramic composite materials, where the metal and ceramic phase are assembled effectively, are welcomed. The basic idea is to break down the cultural frontiers that separate researchers and technologists studying ceramic matrix rather than metallic matrix metal ceramic composites, thus creating a collection of works which will act as reference in the next few years. Hoping that you will be involved in the same my enthusiasm, I look forward to receiving numerous works from you.

Best regards

Dr. Antonello Marocco

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 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-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.