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Metals
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Advances in Forming and Heat Treatments of Metallic Materials
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Advances in Forming and Heat Treatments of Metallic Materials

A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701). This special issue belongs to the section "Metal Casting, Forming and Heat Treatment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2026 | Viewed by 601

Editors

Prof. Dr. Rita Munoz-Arroyo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Facultad de Sistemas, Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila, Carr. a México Km. 13, Arteaga 25350, Coahuila, Mexico
Interests: heat treatment; rolling; surface property; alloy and steel
Prof. Dr. H. M. Hernández-García

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Graduate Department, InnovaBienestar de México, Ciencia y Tecnología, No. 790, Col. Saltillo 400, Saltillo 25290, Coahuila, Mexico
Interests: heat treatment; rolling; surface property; alloy and steel

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is a pleasure to invite you to participate in the Special Issue of Metals on the theme of “Advances in Forming and Heat Treatments of Metallic Materials”.

This Special Issue focuses on forming processes and the application of heat treatments to metallic materials following any deformation process.

Forming processes involve the plastic deformation of metal to change its shape without removing material, thus conserving mass and volume. This is achieved through forces applied with tools (dies, molds, stamping tools, hammers, etc.), and is classified as cold working (greater precision) or hot working (greater ductility). These processes include rolling (rolling), forging (hammering/pressing), extrusion (pushing through a die), stamping/pressing (stamping), bending/folding (angles/curves), drawing, wire drawing (wires/tubes), etc.

Sometimes these shaped materials require heat treatment, which consists of both heating and cooling stages to improve their mechanical properties (hardness, modulus of elasticity, yield strength, etc.) by modifying their crystalline structure or precipitating secondary phases. The most common heat treatments are tempering, annealing, and normalizing, generally applied to ferrous alloys. Meanwhile, solution heat treatments and aging predominate in non-ferrous alloys.

We cordially invite researchers, academics, and students working on forming processes and heat treatments of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys to contribute to this Special Issue, with the aim of promoting theories, technologies applied to industry, and related innovations in the field of research.

Prof. Dr. Rita Munoz-Arroyo
Prof. Dr. H. M. Hernández-García
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. Metals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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

  • microstructure
  • mechanical properties
  • phases
  • ductility
  • formability
  • hardening
  • aging
  • annealing
  • ferrous alloys
  • non-ferrous alloys

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

23 pages, 3649 KB  
Review
Evolution Mechanisms of Diffusion-Induced Phase Transformation Layers in Gun-Barrel Bores Under Thermochemical Coupling
by Jinghua Cao, Yiming Liu, Mengran Zhu, Jiawei Fu, Yao Jiang, Zheng Li, Ying Liu and Jingtao Wang
Metals 2026, 16(6), 623; https://doi.org/10.3390/met16060623 - 5 Jun 2026
Viewed by 341
Abstract
This study focuses on a 155 mm 32CrNi3MoV steel barrel and presents a thermochemically coupled phase transformation and diffusion dynamics model. The model leverages the significant disparity between radial and axial temperature gradients to simplify the heat conduction problem to a one-dimensional transient [...] Read more.
This study focuses on a 155 mm 32CrNi3MoV steel barrel and presents a thermochemically coupled phase transformation and diffusion dynamics model. The model leverages the significant disparity between radial and axial temperature gradients to simplify the heat conduction problem to a one-dimensional transient formulation. The temperature field distribution during firing sequences is solved analytically, accounting for the dynamic shift in critical phase transformation temperatures under high heating rates. The evolution of the martensitic layer thickness under repeated thermal shock is subsequently calculated. A numerical model for the pulsed diffusion of C and N is established based on Fick’s second law, incorporating the competitive diffusion–phase transformation mechanisms that govern martensite/austenite interface migration. To quantitatively evaluate the synergistic contribution of C and N to austenite stabilization, a carbon equivalent (Ceq) model is introduced, with the weight coefficient of N relative to C determined to be 0.68 and the critical Ceq required to lower the martensite start temperature below 25 °C calculated as 1.15 wt%. Concurrently, the microstructure and elemental distribution within the austenite layer of the retired barrel are systematically characterized using multi-scale techniques. The results indicate that the austenite layer on the inner bore surface arises from the synergistic effects of cyclic thermal-shock-induced phase transformation and elemental diffusion. Based on the Ceq criterion, the austenite layer thickness increases rapidly during the initial ~100 firing cycles, after which the growth rate slows significantly: it reaches approximately 1.27 μm after the first cycle and 2.94 μm after 1000 cycles, with only 0.2 μm of additional thickening between 100 and 1000 cycles—consistent with the experimentally observed range of 1.52–4.16 μm. The martensitic layer formed during the first firing cycle exhibits low thermal conductivity, which impedes subsequent heat transfer and leads to stabilization of its thickness at a characteristic depth. Grain refinement induced by repeated thermal shock provide short-circuit diffusion paths for elemental diffusion, accelerating compositional homogenization within the austenite layer and resulting in a stepped concentration profile at the interface. This study provides a representative example of non-equilibrium coupled phase transformation–diffusion phenomena under extreme transient loading. The established thickness prediction model can provide guidance for service life assessment of large-caliber barrels, offering both theoretical foundations and practical engineering guidance for their material design and performance optimization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Forming and Heat Treatments of Metallic Materials)
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