Special Issue "Heat Treatment, Microstructure and Properties of Nonferrous Metals and Alloys"

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: 31 August 2023 | Viewed by 3063

Special Issue Editors

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
Interests: titanium alloy; Ti2AlNb-based alloy and titanium aluminide intermetallic alloys
Center for Adaptive System Engineering, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201210, China
Interests: Ni alloys; Ti alloys; advanced characterization; mechanical behavior; hydrogen embrittlement; additive manufacturing
School of Materials and Chemistry/Interdisciplinary Center for Additive, Manufacturing, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
Interests: materials genome; advanced materials; additive manufacturing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nonferrous metals and alloys are groups of high-performance materials with outstanding physical and mechanical properties, and they are widely used in the aerospace, automotive, marine, chemical and biomedical industrial sectors. For instance, Ti, Mg and Al alloys are suitable for use in lightweight infrastructures and transportations, because they exhibit high performance and aid reductions in carbon emissions; Ti alloys and Ni alloys are candidate structural materials used in aggressive environments with high temperatures, high pressure and corrosive reactants. The microstructure and properties of nonferrous alloys are mainly governed by their fabrication and thermomechanical processing routes, among which, heat treatment is known to be an imperative step in tailoring their microstructures and optimizing their properties. Moreover, heat treatment is usually the last process used to finalize a microstructure condition for practical applications. This is not only applicable to alloys fabricated using conventional casting/forging-based approaches, but it is also crucial for nonferrous alloys fabricated using additive manufacturing. Heat treatment is employed to reduce defects, eliminate elemental segregation, homogenize microstructures and mitigate mechanical anisotropy in additively manufactured nonferrous alloys. Therefore, in-depth understanding of the relationship between heat treatment and the microstructure and properties of nonferrous alloys is necessary to optimize their performance and ensure confidence in engineering applications.

In this Special Issue, we will accept papers that cover both experimental and simulation work regarding heat treatment and the microstructures and properties of nonferrous alloys, including but not limited to Ti alloys, Al alloys, Mg alloys, Ni alloys, Zr alloys, Cu alloys, etc. We aim to collect a wide array of articles regarding the effect of heat treatment on microstructures and mechanical properties and the relationship between the microstructures and properties of these alloys processed via casting, forging, rolling, sintering and additive manufacturing. Submissions in the form of research papers, reviews and short communications are welcome.

Dr. Aihan Feng
Dr. Zhenbo Zhang
Prof. Dr. Hao 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 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. 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 2000 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

  • heat treatment
  • microstructure
  • metals and alloys
  • mechanical property
  • modeling and simulation
  • characterization

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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Article
Pattern Formation by Spinodal Decomposition in Ternary Lead-Free Sn-Ag-Cu Solder Alloy
Metals 2022, 12(10), 1640; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12101640 - 29 Sep 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 651
Abstract
In comparison to Pb-based solders which have a toxic effect, the tin-silver-copper (SAC) family of alloys have relatively strong reliability and are widely used in the electronics industry. Phase separation and coarsening phenomenon on the surface of 96.5 wt. % Sn-3.0 wt. % [...] Read more.
In comparison to Pb-based solders which have a toxic effect, the tin-silver-copper (SAC) family of alloys have relatively strong reliability and are widely used in the electronics industry. Phase separation and coarsening phenomenon on the surface of 96.5 wt. % Sn-3.0 wt. % Ag-0.5 wt. % Cu (SAC305) solder products exhibit special microstructural features and offer opportunities for the microstructure control of microelectronic interconnects. However, the formation mechanism of such morphological patterns is still unknown. Here, we applied a combination of experimental and phase field methods to study how such patterns form. It was observed that the pattern was Sn-rich and exhibited the characteristic morphology of spinodal decomposition. Contrary to earlier findings that only binary systems like Sn-Pb and Sn-Bi experienced such phenomena, spinodal decomposition was firstly observed in ternary solder system Sn-Ag-Cu. Morphology of Sn-rich patterns depended on whether the spinodal decomposition reacted completely. SAC305 solder alloy was easily decomposed by Sn component after being heated to roughly 260 °C. The above conclusions could offer theoretical support for quantitatively controlling the microstructure of solder alloys and would enhance the quality of related products. Full article
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Article
Influence of Nonmetallic Interstitials on the Phase Transformation between FCC and HCP Titanium: A Density Functional Theory Study
Metals 2022, 12(10), 1607; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12101607 - 26 Sep 2022
Viewed by 725
Abstract
In addition to the common stable and metastable phases in titanium alloys, the face-centered cubic phase was recently observed under various conditions; however, its formation remains largely unclarified. In this work, the effect of nonmetallic interstitial atoms O, N, C and B on [...] Read more.
In addition to the common stable and metastable phases in titanium alloys, the face-centered cubic phase was recently observed under various conditions; however, its formation remains largely unclarified. In this work, the effect of nonmetallic interstitial atoms O, N, C and B on the formation of the face-centered cubic phase of titanium was investigated with the density functional theory. The results indicate that the occupancy of O, N, C and B on the octahedral interstitial sites reduces the energy gap between the hexagonal-close-packed (HCP) and face-centered cubic (FCC) phases, thus assisting the formation of FCC-Ti under elevated temperature or plastic deformation. Such a gap further decreases with the increase in the interstitial content, which is consistent with the experimental observation of FCC-Ti under high interstitial content. The relative stability of the interstitial-containing HCP-Ti and FCC-Ti was studied against the physical and chemical origins, e.g., the lattice distortion and the electronic bonding. Interstitial O, N, C and B also reduce the stacking fault energy, thus further benefiting the formation of FCC-Ti. Full article
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Article
Effect of Solution Heat Treatment by Induction on UNS S31803 Duplex Stainless Steel Joints Welded with the Autogenous TIG Process
Metals 2022, 12(9), 1450; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12091450 - 30 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 664
Abstract
In the oil and gas industry, the manufacture of equipment using materials that resist aggressive media is one of the greatest challenges. UNS S31803 duplex stainless steel is widely used for this purpose owing to its good combination of mechanical and corrosion resistance. [...] Read more.
In the oil and gas industry, the manufacture of equipment using materials that resist aggressive media is one of the greatest challenges. UNS S31803 duplex stainless steel is widely used for this purpose owing to its good combination of mechanical and corrosion resistance. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of induction solution heat treatment using autogenous TIG welding on UNS S31803 DSS sheets. Sheet samples were subjected to two different treatment parameters for a duration of 10 s and at temperatures of 1050 and 1150 °C. The results obtained with the treatments were compared with those of the as-welded condition, which was the reference condition. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the samples were carried out, in addition to microstructural characterization using confocal microscopy and a corrosion resistance study as per ASTM G48 standard. We observed that the best results were obtained with a treatment of 10 s at 1150 °C, which was able to eliminate chromium nitrides and re-establish the proper balance of the ferrite and austenite phases. In addition, the treatment was able to reduce hardness and provide welds free of cracks and discontinuities, also presenting a low corrosion rate. Full article
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Review

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Review
A Review on Phase Field Modeling for Formation of η-Cu6Sn5 Intermetallic
Metals 2022, 12(12), 2043; https://doi.org/10.3390/met12122043 - 28 Nov 2022
Viewed by 677
Abstract
Formation of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) exhibits remarkable microstructural features and provides opportunities for microstructure control of microelectronic interconnects. Excessive formation of brittle IMCs at the Cu/Sn interface such as η-Cu6Sn5 can deteriorate the reliability and in turn lead to solder [...] Read more.
Formation of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) exhibits remarkable microstructural features and provides opportunities for microstructure control of microelectronic interconnects. Excessive formation of brittle IMCs at the Cu/Sn interface such as η-Cu6Sn5 can deteriorate the reliability and in turn lead to solder joint failure in the Pb-free Sn-based solder joints. Phase field method is a versatile tool for prediction of the mesoscopic structure evolution in solders, which does not require tracking interfaces. The relationships between the microstructures, reliability and wettability were widely investigated, and several formation and growth mechanisms were also proposed for η-Cu6Sn5. In this paper, the current research works are reviewed and the prospective of the application of phase field method in the formation of η-Cu6Sn5 are discussed. Combined phase field simulations hold great promise in modeling the formation kinetics of IMCs with complex microstructural and chemical interactions. Full article
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