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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Advanced Materials Characterization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 10263

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ligang Zhang

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Guest Editor

School of Material Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
Interests: aluminum alloy; titanium alloy; thermoelectric material; materials design and processing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Yuan Yuan

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Guest Editor

National Engineering Research Center for Magnesium Alloys, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400000, China
Interests: phase diagram; CALPHAD approach; light alloys
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the development and increasing requirement of technology, the functional properties of classic materials have been exploited and are attracting increasing attention. For example, the magnesium alloys have perfect biocompatibility and biodegradable properties for promising application as biomaterials and have high damping properties and EMI-shielding properties for application in 3C products and other related fields. Aluminum foams are attractive functional materials for their high-energy absorption capabilities, relatively low thermal conductivity, good electrical conductivity, high acoustic damping, and high fire retardation. There are many other classic materials being developed as functional materials, such as bio-titanium alloys used as biological materials, magnetic steels, primary Mg/Al batteries, and so on.

The functional properties of materials are strongly related with their phase structures. Therefore, this Special Issue on “Phase Structure and Functional Properties of Materials” aims to introduce the latest technologies for understanding the formation of phase structure and microstructure in materials and their relationship with their functional properties, in order to provide support for knowledge-based advanced material design with desired functional properties.

Original research papers and critical reviews are welcome. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

Thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transformations, as well as their application roles in structure formation and evolution in materials;
Ab-initio-based modeling of phase stability and related functional properties of advanced materials;
Technologies and methods for the development of new materials with advanced functional properties;
Theoretical models to explain the functional properties of materials and their applications.

Prof. Dr. Ligang Zhang
Prof. Dr. Yuan Yuan
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. Materials 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 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

phase structure
functionalization
physicochemical properties
function materials
material simulation

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research

2 pages, 160 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

New Frontiers in the Phase Structure and Functional Properties of Materials

by Ligang Zhang and Yuan Yuan

Materials 2023, 16(13), 4692; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma16134692 - 29 Jun 2023

Viewed by 417

Abstract

Materials’ functional properties are strongly related to their phase structures [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phase Structure and Functional Properties of Materials)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

27 pages, 11747 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Numerical Simulation Method Considering Solid Phase Transformation and the Experimental Verification of Ti6Al4V Titanium Alloy Sheet Welding Processes

by Yu Li, Jia-Yi Hou, Wen-Jian Zheng, Zheng-Quan Wan and Wen-Yong Tang

Materials 2022, 15(8), 2882; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15082882 - 14 Apr 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1750

Abstract

A prediction model of the welding process of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy was established by using the finite element method, which was used to evaluate the phase composition, residual stress and deformation of the welded joints of Ti-6Al-4V sheets with different processes (including tungsten inert gas welding, TIG, and laser beam welding, LBW). The Ti-6Al-4V structures of TIG welding and LBW are widely used in marine engineering. In order to quantitatively study the effects of different welding processes (including TIG welding and LBW) on the microstructure evolution, macro residual stress and deformation of Ti6Al4V titanium alloy sheets during welding, a unified prediction model considering solid-state phase transformation was established based on the ABAQUS subroutine. In this paper, LBW and TIG welding experiments of 1.6 mm thick Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy sheets were designed. The microstructure distribution of the welded joints observed in the experiment was consistent with the phase composition predicted by the model, and the hardness measurement experiment could also verify the phase composition and proportion. From the residual stress measured by experiment and the residual stress and deformation calculated by finite element simulation of LBW and TIG weldments, it is concluded that the effect of phase transformation on residual stress is mainly in the weld area, which has an effect on the distribution of tensile and compressive stress in the weld area. The overall deformation of the welded joint is mainly related to the welding process, and the phase transformation only affects the local volume change of the weld seam. Importantly, the phase composition and residual stress, which are scalar fields, calculated by the established model can be introduced into the numerical analysis of structural fracture failure as input influence factors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phase Structure and Functional Properties of Materials)

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14 pages, 26651 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Investigation of the Phase Relations in the Fe-Zr-Y Ternary System

by Chenbo Li, Qian Song, Xianwen Yang, Yuduo Wei, Qi Hu, Libin Liu and Ligang Zhang

Materials 2022, 15(2), 593; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15020593 - 13 Jan 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1628

Abstract

The phase relations of the Fe-Zr-Y system at 973 K and 1073 K were experimentally investigated by using the equilibrated alloys. New ternary compounds τ3-Fe₃ZrY and τ4-Fe₁₀Zr₅Y₂ were found in this ternary system. The solubility of Y in Fe₂Zr was measured to be 3.5 at.% and the third component can hardly dissolve in the other binary intermetallic phases. Experiments have verified that Fe_2.9Zr_0.5Y_0.5 has a solid solubility ranging from Fe73Zr12Y14 to Fe77Zr9Y13. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phase Structure and Functional Properties of Materials)

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14 pages, 15653 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Texture Evolution during Recrystallization and Grain Growth in Non-Oriented Electrical Steel Produced by Compact Strip Production Process

by Jun-Qiang Cong, Fei-Hu Guo, Jia-Long Qiao, Sheng-Tao Qiu and Hai-Jun Wang

Materials 2022, 15(1), 197; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma15010197 - 28 Dec 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1647

Abstract

Evolution of texture and α*-fiber texture formation mechanism of Fe-0.65%Si non-oriented electrical steel produced by Compact Strip Production (CSP) process during all the thermo-mechanical processing steps were investigated using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. Columnar crystal structure of cast slab is fine and well-developed. Textures of the hot-rolled band are quite different in the thickness direction. During annealing of cold-rolled sheet, γ-fiber texture grains would nucleate and grow preferentially, and α*-fiber texture grains mainly nucleate and grow in the shear zone of α-fiber texture of cold-rolled sheet. During the recrystallization process, γ-fiber texture gradually concentrated to {111}<112>, and γ and α*-fiber texture increased significantly. {111}<112> texture priority nucleation at the initial stage of recrystallization. Due to the advantages of nucleation position and quantity, the content of α*-fiber texture is greater than {111}<112> texture in the mid-recrystallization. During grain growth process, {111}<112> oriented grains would grow selectively by virtue of higher mobility, sizes and quantity advantages than that of {411}<148 > and {100}<120>, resulting in the gradual increase of γ-fiber texture and the decline of α *-fiber texture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phase Structure and Functional Properties of Materials)

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9 pages, 1990 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Phase Formation, Microstructure, and Magnetic Properties of Nd_14.5Fe_79.3B_6.2 Melt-Spun Ribbons with Different Ce and Y Substitutions

by Qingjin Ke, Feilong Dai, Shengxi Li, Maohua Rong, Qingrong Yao and Jiang Wang

Materials 2021, 14(14), 3992; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14143992 - 16 Jul 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1718

Abstract

Phase formation and microstructure of (Nd_1-2xCe_xY_x)_14.5Fe_79.3B_6.2 (x = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25) alloys were studied experimentally. The results reveal that (Nd_1-2xCe_xY_x)_14.5Fe_79.3B_6.2 annealed alloys show (NdCeY)₂Fe₁₄B phase with the tetragonal Nd₂Fe₁₄B-typed structure (space group P4₂/mnm) and rich-RE (α-Nd) phase, while (Nd_1-2xCe_xY_x)_14.5Fe_79.3B_6.2 ribbons prepared by melt-spun technology are composed of (NdCeY)₂Fe₁₄B phase, α-Nd phase and α-Fe phase, except for the ribbon with x = 0.25, which consists of additional CeFe₂ phase. On the other hand, magnetic properties of (Nd_1-2xCe_xY_x)_14.5Fe_79.3B_6.2 melt-spun ribbons were measured by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The measured results show that the remanence (B_r) and the coercivity (H_cj) of the melt-spun ribbons decrease with the increase of Ce and Y substitutions, while the maximum magnetic energy product ((BH)_max) of the ribbons decreases and then increases. The tendency of magnetic properties of the ribbons could result from the co-substitution of Ce and Y for Nd in Nd₂Fe₁₄B phase and different phase constitutions. It was found that the H_cj of the ribbon with x = 0.20 is relatively high to be 9.01 kOe, while the (BH)_max of the ribbon with x = 0.25 still reaches to be 9.06 MGOe. It suggests that magnetic properties of Nd-Fe-B ribbons with Ce and Y co-substitution could be tunable through alloy composition and phase formation to fabricate novel Nd-Fe-B magnets with low costs and high performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phase Structure and Functional Properties of Materials)

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16 pages, 2942 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Synthesis, Optical Characterizations and Solar Energy Applications of New Schiff Base Materials

by Sobhi M. Gomha, Hoda A. Ahmed, Mohamed Shaban, Tariq Z. Abolibda, Muna S. Khushaim and Khalid A. Alharbi

Materials 2021, 14(13), 3718; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14133718 - 02 Jul 2021

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 2217

Abstract

A new set of laterally OCH₃-substituted photoactive liquid crystalline analogues, 4-hexyloxy phenyl- imino-4ʹ-(3-methoxyphenyl)-4ʹ’-alkoxybenzoates, were synthesized and investigated for their mesomorphic behavior. The prepared set constitutes five analogues that differ from each other by the terminally attached compact polar group. Characterization of the synthesized derivatives is conducted using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy (POM), and UV-spectroscopy. Molecular structures were elucidated by elemental analyses, FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy. DSC and POM investigations indicated that all the prepared derivatives are monomorphic possessing the nematic (N) phase, except for the unsubstituted derivative that is nonmesomorphic. On the other side, the photophysical study and the optical spectra measurements confirm the photoactivity of the present compounds under UV/visible irradiation. The measured optical spectra showed impressive enhancement in the optical absorption and reduction in the optical bandgap from 3.63 to 3.0 eV depending on the terminal group. From the study of the DC electric properties, the lowest resistance, 106.5 GΩ at scan rate 0.1 V/s, was observed for the I6_d film with Cl terminal, which decreased to 49.5 GΩ by increasing the scan rate to 0.5 V/s. Moreover, the electrical conductance is decreased from 9.39 pS to 1.35 pS at scan rate 0.1 V/s by changing the terminal group from Cl to F. The enhanced optical absorption and the reduced energy gap make the optimized samples suitable material for solar energy applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Phase Structure and Functional Properties of Materials)

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