Preparation and Characterization of Corrosion or Wear-Resistant Nanocomposite Coatings

A Special Issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991) belonging to the section "Synthesis, Interfaces and Nanostructures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 March 2027 | Viewed by 818

Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
Interests: corrosion/wear-resistant materials and coating techniques; additive manufacturing; tribological behaviors analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Corrosion and wear have long been the primary failure modes for industrial components, particularly those operating in harsh environments such as marine, petroleum, and energy systems. The development of advanced coating materials has played a pivotal role in enhancing the durability and performance of these components. Over the years, surface engineering has evolved significantly, with techniques such as thermal spraying, electroplating, and laser cladding achieving notable success in mitigating corrosion and wear.

Recently, a wide range of novel materials—including high- and medium-entropy alloys (HEAs/MEAs), amorphous alloys, cermets, and advanced composites—has emerged, demonstrating exceptional resistance to both wear and corrosion. These materials offer new opportunities for designing coatings capable of withstanding increasingly severe service conditions.

This Special Issue aims to showcase cutting-edge research on innovative coating materials and advanced fabrication technologies. It focuses on addressing critical challenges such as extreme wear, corrosion, and combined degradation mechanisms through strategic coating design and process innovation. Contributions that integrate computational material design, experimental validation, and real-world industrial applications are especially encouraged. Both original research articles and comprehensive reviews highlighting recent advances in this field are welcome.

We invite submissions—including original research, reviews, and case studies—on topics such as, but not limited to, the following:

  • Novel material systems (e.g., high-/medium-entropy alloys, amorphous alloys, nanocomposites);
  • Advanced coating fabrication methods (e.g., laser cladding, thermal spraying, hybrid PVD/CVD processes);
  • Multi-scale performance evaluation (tribological, electrochemical, thermal);
  • Sustainability-oriented solutions (e.g., low-energy processing, recyclable or eco-friendly coatings).

Dr. Yongxin Jian
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials 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 2400 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

  • HEA coatings
  • composite coatings
  • ceramic coatings
  • bio-inspired coatings
  • corrosion or tribological characterizations

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

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

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

23 pages, 14701 KB  
Article
Pack-Boriding of Fe-20Cr-5Al Alloy: Nanostructured Boride Layer Formation, Mechanical Performance, and Paradoxical Passivation Loss via Micro-Galvanic Interactions
by Cengiz Temiz, Uğur Öztürk, Seyit Çağlar and Fikret Yılmaz
Nanomaterials 2026, 16(14), 870; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano16140870 - 15 Jul 2026
Viewed by 418
Abstract
This study investigates the microstructural evolution, mechanical performance, and electrochemical corrosion behavior of nanocrystalline boride layers formed on an Fe-20Cr-5Al ferritic alloy by pack boriding at 950 °C for 4 h. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) analyses confirmed [...] Read more.
This study investigates the microstructural evolution, mechanical performance, and electrochemical corrosion behavior of nanocrystalline boride layers formed on an Fe-20Cr-5Al ferritic alloy by pack boriding at 950 °C for 4 h. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) analyses confirmed the formation of a hierarchical boride layer approximately 80–85 μm in thickness, consisting of orthorhombic (Fe,Cr)B and tetragonal (Fe,Cr)2B phases at the surface and (Fe,Cr)23(C,B)6 carboboride phases in the diffusion zone, the latter attributed to the carbon push-ahead mechanism. Rietveld refinement yielded a quantitative phase fraction of 51.9 wt.%. (Fe,Cr)B, 46.1 wt.% Fe2B, and 2.0 wt.% (Fe,Cr)23(C,B)6, with a theoretical boride layer density of 7.40 g cm−3. Williamson–Hall analysis yielded an average crystallite size of 50.7 nm and a microstrain of 1.686 × 10−3, confirming the nanocrystalline character of the boride phases. Mechanical evaluation revealed a ~9-fold increase in surface hardness in Fe20Cr5Al-B relative to Fe20Cr5Al, reaching 1854 HV (18.18 GPa). Tribological testing demonstrated an ~18-fold reduction in wear rate (from 3.29 × 10−4 to 1.82 × 10−5 mm3/m) and a 14.5% reduction in the coefficient of friction (0.76→0.65), confirming the effectiveness of the boride layer as a tribological barrier. However, electrochemical analyses in 5 wt.% H2SO4 revealed a paradoxical deterioration in corrosion resistance: despite a noble shift in Ecorr from −0.459 to −0.295 V, the corrosion rate increased ~4-fold (from 9.67 × 10−3 to 3.83 × 10−2 mm/year), driven by Al-repulsion-induced passive film loss and micro-galvanic cell formation through micro-crack and porosity networks. These findings emphasize that while pack-boriding is highly effective for tribological enhancement of FeCrAl alloys, minimizing boride layer defects is essential to achieve concurrent corrosion protection in acidic environments. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop