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Materials

Materials is an international peer-reviewed, open access journal on materials science and engineering published semimonthly online by MDPI.
The Portuguese Materials Society (SPM)Spanish Materials Society (SOCIEMAT), Manufacturing Engineering Society (MES) and Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology (CSMNT) are affiliated with Materials and their members receive discounts on the article processing charges.
Indexed in PubMed | Quartile Ranking JCR - Q2 (Metallurgy and Metallurgical Engineering | Physics, Applied | Physics, Condensed Matter)

All Articles (52,981)

Biodegradable zinc alloys have shown great potential in the biomedical field, but are limited by their poor mechanical properties. Alloying is essential for improving mechanical properties, yet designing multicomponent zinc alloys remains challenging due to complex elemental interactions. Notably, while data-driven active learning approaches offer new strategies for zinc alloy design, data quality issues such as redundancy, outliers, and inconsistencies in multi-source heterogeneous data hinder modeling accuracy and interpretability. In this work, we proposed a data quality management strategy based on recursive screening, targeting three key data problems, namely, redundant data (RD), outlier data (OD), and inconsistent target data (ID). Case studies on hydrogen embrittlement, phase-change refrigeration materials, and matbench_expt_gap datasets showed that, in the aforementioned data-driven research, RD optimized data distribution but risked precision loss in high-performance regions; OD enhanced minority alloy features but risked overfitting; and ID preserved high-performance data, boosting extrapolation but risking underfitting. Six multicomponent zinc alloys were designed and fabricated using these strategies. Experiments showed ID-optimized datasets achieving 482 MPa—near state-of-the-art performance. The highest tensile strength of 482 MPa was obtained in the alloy Zn-1.2Al-0.8Mg-0.45Li-0.3Mn (at%), designed via the ID-optimized dataset. The study revealed that in inverse design, predictive accuracy in high-performance regions outweighs data volume or density, underscoring the value of data quality management for multi-source materials development.

15 October 2025

Workflow used in this study: (a) proactively learning the process of designing zinc alloys; (b) recursive data quality evaluation process; and (c) definition of the three data quality issues (RD, OD, and ID).

This article presents the manufacturing technology and mechanical properties of innovative pre-impregnated coatings (PCs). The base materials for PC are powders of metal oxides, non-metals, minerals and thermoplastic non-wovens. PC can be used in the manufacture of composites by methods such as vacuum infusion, autoclave curing or hand lamination. This is possible due to the novel PC structure consisting of a functional layer (FL) and a backing layer (BL). PCs are flexible so that they can be used on curved surfaces. In this work, five types of PC were subjected to a uniaxial tensile test. Depending on the powder used, failure force values ranging from 24.61 N to 28.73 N were obtained. In the next step, the pre-impregnated coatings were applied as a coating in “sandwich” composites made by vacuum infusion, which were subjected to three-point bending (3-PB) and adhesion tests. 3-PB tests proved that the coating remained integral with the substrate, even under high flexural deformation, while the adhesion achieved was in the range of 0.95 MPa to 1.57 MPa. PC can be used in many engineering products, e.g., for the coating of façade panels, roof tiles, automotive parts or rail vehicles, etc.

15 October 2025

PC as multifunctional coatings.

This study investigates the adhesion of polypropylene (PP), steel and basalt fibres to geopolymer matrices of varying composition. Geopolymers formed via alkali activation of fly ash (FA) and ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) offer significant environmental advantages over Portland cement by reducing CO2 emissions and energy consumption. The addition of water treatment sludge (WTS) was also investigated as a partial or complete replacement for FA. Pull-out tests showed that replacing FA with WTS significantly reduces the mechanical properties of the matrix and at the same time the adhesion to the fibres tested. The addition of 20% WTS reduced the compressive strength by more than 50% and full replacement to less than 5% of the reference value. Steel fibres showed the highest adhesion (9.3 MPa), while PP fibres had the lowest, with adhesion values three times lower than steel. Increased GGBFS content improved fibre adhesion, while the addition of WTS weakened it. Calculated critical fibre lengths ranged from 50 to 70 mm in WTS-free matrices but increased significantly in WTS-containing matrices due to reduced matrix strength. The compatibility of the fibres with the geopolymer matrix was also confirmed via SEM microstructural observations, where a homogeneous transition zone was observed in the case of steel fibres, while numerous discontinuities at the interface were observed in the case of other fibres, the surface of which is made of organic polymers. These results highlight the potential of fibre-reinforced geopolymer composites for sustainable construction.

15 October 2025

FA: (a) main oxide components; (b) XRD diffractogram; (c) particle size distribution.

Different composites of polyethylene and two fillers (ignimbrite dust and Arundo donax fibers) were obtained by rotational molding. Both fillers were also combined among them to produce hybrid composites. The blends, prepared by dry-blending, were later rotomolded to determine the effect of such fillers into the tensile properties of the materials, before and after subjecting them to accelerated weathering on a UV chamber for up to 500 h. No significant differences are observed in the mechanical behavior of the different sample series, regardless their type or ratio of filler (5 or 10% by weight), due to the modifications only taking place on the sample surface and the rotomolded items having a thickness of nominally 4 mm. The carbonyl index was obtained from the FTIR spectra, determining an increase in this parameter with irradiation time. The samples with the Arundo fibers exhibit a lower carbonyl index, showing the potential stabilization effect of this lignocellulosic filler against UV, while the composites with the mineral powder tend to increase the oxidation of the samples when included at high loadings (10%).

15 October 2025

Rotomolded samples for (a) 5% ignimbrite dust, (b) 10% ignimbrite dust, (c) 5% Arundo fibers, (d) 10% Arundo fibers, (e) 5% hybrid composites: 2.5% Arundo fibers and 2.5% ignimbrite dust, (f) 10% hybrid composites: 5% Arundo fibers and 5% ignimbrite dust, and (g) neat PE.

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Materials - ISSN 1996-1944Creative Common CC BY license