Mechanical, Crack and Fatigue Properties of Tool Steel, Pipe Steel, and Laser Welded Steel

Dear Colleagues,

Tool steels, pipe steels, and laser-welded steels, the main subject of this Special Issue, may seem to be an incoherent field of material science and engineering, but this is not the case. With the exception of laser welding, these steels have been successfully used in specific applications and structures for many years. On the other hand, the application sectors are still being progressively developed to satisfy gradually growing requirements on the mechanical properties, fatigue resistance, as well as the safety and reliability of components and structures, because these components are often used in production chains, where any failure results in high additional costs connected with the interruption of production. This is why material and technological innovations are still needed. Laser-welded steels then represent quite a new technology, where new research and knowledge is still necessary.

Any improvement in material science and technology needs a deep knowledge and understanding of numerous parameters and links between the parameters, mechanical properties, material microstructure, and damage or failure mechanisms.

There is another aspect common for all the three types of steels—namely, intensive fatigue loading, both high- and low-cycle, combined with other loading types like thermal loading in tool steels, and corrosion exposition in some pipes or pipeline sections. Therefore, the thermal fatigue of tool steels, and the corrosion and stress corrosion cracking of pipe steels are also potentially important subjects of the Special Issue. In laser-welded steels, which may contain pores or crack-like defects, theoretical and applied fracture mechanics approaches will be another interesting issue.

The provided examples show that there is a large field of possible very interesting and valuable contributions to the Special Issue which will help numerous researchers, scientists, and engineers to maintain the progress in the material science and technology being seen in the field of these materials and their new applications.

Dr. Ivo Černý
Guest Editor

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