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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 (20 October 2023) | Viewed by 22572

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yi Gong

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Guest Editor

Department of Materials Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Interests: failure analysis; polymeric materials in nuclear power plants; irradiation degradation of polymers; ageing management of nuclear power plants; heat resistant steels

Dr. Qi Tong

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Guest Editor

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Interests: computational mechanics; computational materials; multiscale simulation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The combination of diverse engineering materials (e.g., metals, polymers, ceramics, and their composites) and extreme service environments (e.g., high temperature, high pressure, mechanical loads, chemicals, radiation, and their interactions) inevitably challenges the reliability, safety, longevity, and economy of the equipment in industries. In this context, measures which cover the whole life cycle of the equipment are adopted before operation, including design optimization, fabrication improvement, and reliability evaluation. During operation, routine maintenance, failure analysis, experience feedback, etc. are adopted, and in all stages the emphasis is laid on the essence of the equipment—the materials. Thus, a full understanding of the performances of diverse engineering materials in extreme service environments will make a significant contribution to the operation of industrial equipment.

The aim of this Special Issue entitled “Engineering Materials in Extreme Environments” is to collect cutting-edge knowledge and provide a comprehensive overview of the structures, properties, processing, and performances of the engineering materials serving/involved in the extreme environments of conventional industries including aerospace, chemical production, mining, manufacturing, oil and gas, power generation, steel production, transportation, etc. Research papers, reviews, and case studies related to design, fabrication, experiment, reliability evaluation, numerical simulation, failure analysis, etc. are encouraged. The engineering materials applied in emerging industries like integrated circuits, information science, biotechnology, etc. are also welcome.

We cordially invite you to submit manuscripts for this Special Issue.

Dr. Yi Gong
Dr. Qi Tong
Guest Editors

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Keywords

engineering materials
extreme environments
performance evaluation
reliability
fabrication and processing
failure analysis
numerical simulation

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 9013 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Research on Temperature Field of Controllable Bonded Prestressed Structure Based on Electrothermal Method

by Xueyu Xiong and Nan Jiang

Materials 2023, 16(22), 7108; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16227108 - 9 Nov 2023

Viewed by 712

Abstract

Controllable bonded prestress represents an innovative advancement stemming from retard-bonded prestress systems, distinguished by its intrinsic controllability in bonding. The controllable bonded binder can be artificially heated and cured rapidly through DC heating after the completion of prestressed tension, allowing for enhanced control over the process. FLUENT simulates controllable bonded prestressed structure’s temperature field, yielding a 1.73% max error validated against measured data. Based on the theory of heat transfer, the maximum error of the calculated temperature field of the controllable bonded test beam under DC heating using the Stehfest numerical algorithm is 1.28%, which exhibits a strong alignment with both simulated and measured results. The parameter analysis identifies current, binder thickness, and steel-strand diameter as key temperature distribution influencers. The relationship between the current and heating time follows a quadratic inverse pattern. Increasing the heating current can significantly reduce the duration of heating. Under identical heating conditions, the temperature of the controllable binder is directly proportional to its thickness. A higher thickness results in a higher temperature. Additionally, larger diameters of steel-stranded wire lead to a lower heating efficiency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Materials in Extreme Environments)

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16 pages, 5350 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Condensation Flow Heat Transfer Characteristics of Stainless Steel and Copper Enhanced Tubes

by Xu Wang, David John Kukulka, Wei Li, Weiyu Tang and Tianwen Li

Materials 2023, 16(5), 1962; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16051962 - 27 Feb 2023

Viewed by 1629

Abstract

In order to study the heat transfer of R410A in extreme environments, the properties of several stainless steel and copper-enhanced tubes were evaluated using R410A as the working fluid, and the results were compared with those of smooth tubes. Tubes evaluated include: smooth, herringbone (EHT-HB) and helix (EHT-HX) microgroove, herringbone/dimple (EHT-HB/D); herringbone/hydrophobic (EHT-HB/HY); and composite enhancement 1EHT (three-dimensional). Experimental conditions include a saturation temperature of 318.15K with a saturation pressure of 2733.5 kPa; a mass velocity in the range between 50 and 400 kg/(m²·s); and an inlet quality controlled at 0.8 and an outlet quality of 0.2. Results indicate that the EHT-HB/D tube produces the best overall condensation heat transfer characteristics (high heat transfer performance and low frictional pressure drop). Using the performance factor (PF) to compare tubes for the range of conditions considered, the PF of the EHT-HB tube is greater than one, the PF of the EHT-HB/HY tube is slightly greater than one, and the PF of the EHT-HX tube is less than one. In general, as the mass flow rate increases, PF initially decreases and then increases. Previously reported smooth tube performance models that have been modified (for use with the EHT-HB/D tube) can predict the performance for 100% of the data points to within ±20%. Furthermore, it was determined that the thermal conductivity of the tube (when comparing stainless steel and copper) will have some effect on the tube-side thermal hydraulic performance. For smooth tubes, the heat transfer coefficients (HTC) of copper and stainless steel tubes are similar (with copper tube values being slightly higher). For enhanced tubes, performance trends are different; the HTC of the copper tube is larger than the SS tube. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Materials in Extreme Environments)

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16 pages, 13009 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Failure Analysis of Abnormal Cracking of the Track Circuit Reader Antenna Baffle for High-Speed Trains

by Chang Su, Tong-Tong Bi and Zhen-Guo Yang

Materials 2023, 16(2), 722; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16020722 - 11 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1367

Abstract

The track circuit reader (TCR) is an important part of train control systems. This paper reports a failure of the TCR antenna baffle, which is used to prevent the TCR antenna from being struck by foreign objects. The designed service life of the baffle is 4.8 million kilometers, but serious cracking was found during routine maintenance after only 0.67 million kilometers of operation. In order to avoid the hidden danger brought by the incident to the safe operation of the train, it is necessary to conduct a complete failure analysis of the failed TCR antenna baffle. Therefore, a comprehensive investigation of the base material, cleaning agents, crack morphologies, etc., was carried out, and the failure environment of the antenna baffle was verified by experiment. The final results show that the environmental stress cracking is the root cause of the failed antenna baffle, and the multiple bubbles produced by the formed process of the antenna baffle are another important cause. According to the conclusions, the solutions to prevent the reoccurrence of such failures are proposed. After these solutions are adopted, the number of failed antenna baffles is greatly reduced, which fully proves the correctness of this analysis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Materials in Extreme Environments)

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13 pages, 3366 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Two-Steps Method to Prepare Multilayer Sandwich Structure Carbon Fiber Composite with Thermal and Electrical Anisotropy and Electromagnetic Interference Shielding

by Chuanqi Zhang, Lansen Bi, Song Shi, Huanhuan Wang, Da Zhang, Yan He and Wei Li

Materials 2023, 16(2), 680; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16020680 - 10 Jan 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2171

Abstract

Carbon fiber (CF) composites performance enhancement is a research hotspot at present. In this work, first, a sandwich structure composite, CF@(carbon nanotube/Fe₃O₄)/epoxy (CF@(CNT/Fe₃O₄)/EP), is prepared by the free arc dispersion-CFs surface spraying-rolling process method, herein, CFs in the middle layer and (CNT/Fe₃O₄)/EP as top and substrate layer. Then, CF@(CNT/Fe₃O₄)/EP (on both sides) and CFs (in the middle) are overlapped by structure design, forming a multilayer CF@(CNT/Fe₃O₄)/EP-CFs composite with a CFs core sheath. A small amount of CNT/Fe₃O₄ is consumed, (CNT/Fe₃O₄)/EP and CFs core sheath realize thermal and electrical anisotropy and directional enhancement, and multilayer sandwich structure makes the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance better strengthened by multiple absorption–reflection/penetration–reabsorption. From CF-0 to CF-8, CNT/Fe₃O₄ content only increases by 0.045 wt%, axial thermal conductivity (λ_‖) increases from 0.59 W/(m·K) to 1.1 W/(m·K), growth rate is 86%, radial thermal conductivity (λ_⊥) only increases by 0.05 W/(m·K), the maximum λ_‖/λ_⊥ is 2.9, axial electrical conductivity (σ_‖) increases from 6.2 S/cm to 7.7 S/cm, growth rate is 24%, radial electrical conductivity (σ_⊥) only increases by 0.7 × 10⁻⁴ S/cm, the total EMI shielding effectiveness (EMI SE_T) increases by 196%, from 10.3 dB to 30.5 dB. This provides a new idea for enhancing CFs composite properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Materials in Extreme Environments)

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13 pages, 5552 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influence of TIG and Laser Welding Processes of Fe-10Cr-4Al-RE Alloy Cracks Overlayed on 316L Steel Plate

by Bin Xi, Bo Liu, Song Li, Disi Wang, Youpeng Zhang, Peter Szakálos, Jesper Ejenstam, Janne Wallenius, Guangqing He and Wenyang Zhang

Materials 2022, 15(10), 3541; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15103541 - 15 May 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2060

Abstract

In this paper, the possibility of applying different welding strategies to overlay an FeCrAl layer against corrosion from heavy liquid metal on a plain plate made of 316L austenitic stainless steel was investigated. This technology could be used in manufacturing the main vessel of CiADS, which may be considered as a more economic and feasible solution than production with the corrosion-resistant FeCrAl alloy directly. The main operational parameters of the laser welding process, including laser power, weld wire feeding speed, diameter of the welding wire, etc., were adjusted correspondingly to the optimized mechanical properties of the welded plate. After performing the standard nuclear-grade bending tests, it can be preliminarily confirmed that the low-power pulse laser with specific operational parameters and an enhanced cooling strategy will be suitable to surface an Fe-10Cr-4Al-RE layer with a thickness of approximately 1 mm on a 40 mm-thick 316L stainless steel plate, thanks to the upgraded mechanical properties incurred by refined grains with a maximum size of around 300 μm in the welded layer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Materials in Extreme Environments)

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12 pages, 15219 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Multiphysics Peridynamic Model for Simulation of Fracture in Si Thin Films during Lithiation/Delithiation Cycles

by Xiaofei Wang and Qi Tong

Materials 2021, 14(20), 6081; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14206081 - 14 Oct 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1590

Abstract

Material failure is the main obstacle in fulfilling the potential of electrodes in lithium batteries. To date, different failure phenomena observed experimentally in various structures have become challenging to model in numerical simulations. Moreover, their mechanisms are not well understood. To fill the gap, here we develop a coupled chemo-mechanical model based on peridynamics, a particle method that is suitable for simulating spontaneous crack growth, to solve the fracture problems in silicon thin films due to lithiation/delithiation. The model solves mechanical and lithium diffusion problems, respectively, and uses a coupling technique to deal with the interaction between them. The numerical examples of different types of Si films show the advantage of the model in this category and well reproduce the fracture patterns observed in the experiments, demonstrating that it is a promising tool in simulating material failure in electrodes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Materials in Extreme Environments)

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16 pages, 3599 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Natural Aging of Ethylene-Propylene-Diene Rubber under Actual Operation Conditions of Electrical Submersible Pump Cables

by Freddy Ignacio Rojas Rodríguez, José Roberto d’Almeida Moraes and Bojan A. Marinkovic

Materials 2021, 14(19), 5520; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14195520 - 24 Sep 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2816

Abstract

Ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) rubbers used in electric submersible pump (ESP) cables were analyzed after being aged in actual operation conditions in oil wellbores. These rubbers constitute the insulation and jacket layers of the ESP cables. EPDM rubbers from four different cables operating during different time intervals (2 and 4.8 years) at different depths (from 760 to 2170 m) below sea level were studied. To verify the effects of the long exposure on the rubber performance, thermal analysis was performed to determine the thermal stability and activation energy of degradation. In addition, structural analysis, through vibrational spectroscopy and crosslinking fraction assessment, was carried out. The mechanical properties of the aged rubbers were inferred through the measurement of hardness, while the absorption of a service fluid was studied by gravimetry. The results showed only minor changes in the thermal, structural, mechanical and barrier properties of the EPDM-based ESP cable layers. It is suggested that the thermo-oxidation mechanism followed by chain scission does not have a role in the degradation of EPDM within the aged ESP cables, and no sign of variation of crosslink fractions has been encountered. Therefore, it was concluded that EPDM-based layers seem not to be weak links in the configuration of modern ESP systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Materials in Extreme Environments)

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15 pages, 4795 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Failure Analysis and Fatigue Life Prediction of Shield Machine Cutterhead

by Jie Li, Zengqiang Zhang, Chuang Liu, Kang Su and Jingbo Guo

Materials 2021, 14(17), 4822; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14174822 - 25 Aug 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2198

Abstract

This paper presents numerical failure analysis on cracking of shield machine cutterhead structure during a metro-tunnel construction. The stress intensity factors (SIFs) of surface cracks with different shapes and location angles were analyzed by a finite element simulation method based on linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) theory. The ratios of variation in stress intensity factors of cracks with different shapes were analyzed. The maximum allowable crack depth of the cutterhead panel is 50.23 mm by dynamic stress calculation, and the damage tolerance criterion of the cutterhead panel was proposed. The influence of the Paris model parameter values was analyzed based on mathematical methods. It is proven that the location of the cutterhead cracking angle is mainly determined by the mixed-mode SIF. In practice, the crack section basically expanded into the semi-elliptical shape. The cutterhead structure may directly enter the stage of crack propagation due to welding defects during tunneling. The research results provide a theoretical basis and important reference for crack detection in the key parts of the cutterhead, as well as maintenance cycle determination and life prediction of the cutterhead mileage, both of which have important engineering value. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Materials in Extreme Environments)

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14 pages, 4390 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Failure Analysis and Prevention of Extraction Column for Methyl Methacrylate Production: Application of the ‘Safety Design’ Concept

by Sheng-Hui Wang, Yi Gong, Qi Tong, Xiao-Lei Yang, Jia-Hao Shen and Zhen-Guo Yang

Materials 2021, 14(15), 4234; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14154234 - 29 Jul 2021

Viewed by 1924

Abstract

To ensure safety and prevent failure of engineering equipment throughout its lifespan, the concept of ‘Safety Design’ is proposed, which covers all the cradle-to-grave phases of engineering equipment, considers at least ten essential factors of failure causes, and conducts root cause analysis at three different scales, in order to proactively control the safety risks before the occurrence of failure rather than passively conduct the remedial measures after failure. Herein, in order to demonstrate how to implement this effective and efficient concept in engineering practice, a case study of failure analysis and prevention is addressed on the extraction column in the production line for methyl methacrylate. Based on the analysis results, the causes were finally determined to be all derived from the stages before operation, including inappropriate design, limited quality inspection of fabrication and installation. Pertinent countermeasures were then proposed from the ‘Safety Design’ point of view, which would not only solve the failure problem for this sole equipment but also contribute to safety risk control of other engineering equipment before operation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Materials in Extreme Environments)

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12 pages, 3328 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Crack Growth Simulation of Functionally Graded Materials Based on Improved Bond-Based Peridynamic Model

by Liyi Min, Qiwen Liu and Lisheng Liu

Materials 2021, 14(11), 3032; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14113032 - 2 Jun 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1998

Abstract

Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are widely used in the aerospace industry, especially for the thermal protection shields of aerospace vehicles. Studies show that the initiation and expansion of micro-cracks are important factors that adversely affect the service life of these shields. Based on the peridynamic theory of bonds, an improved peridynamic model is proposed in the present study for FGMs. In the proposed model, integral equivalence is applied to calculate the required material parameters. Obtained results reveal that this method can better reflect the gradient change of material properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Materials in Extreme Environments)

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17 pages, 10265 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of the Accelerator-Driven System Fuel Assembly during the Steam Generator Tube Rupture Accident

by Di-Si Wang, Bo Liu, Sheng Yang, Bin Xi, Long Gu, Jin-Yang Li, Janne Wallenius and You-Peng Zhang

Materials 2021, 14(8), 1818; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14081818 - 7 Apr 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1923

Abstract

China is developing an ADS (Accelerator-Driven System) research device named the China initiative accelerator-driven system (CiADS). When performing a safety analysis of this new proposed design, the core behavior during the steam generator tube rupture (SGTR) accident has to be investigated. The purpose of our research in this paper is to investigate the impact from different heating conditions and inlet steam contents on steam bubble and coolant temperature distributions in ADS fuel assemblies during a postulated SGTR accident by performing necessary computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. In this research, the open source CFD calculation software OpenFOAM, together with the two-phase VOF (Volume of Fluid) model were used to simulate the steam bubble behavior in heavy liquid metal flow. The model was validated with experimental results published in the open literature. Based on our simulation results, it can be noticed that steam bubbles will accumulate at the periphery region of fuel assemblies, and the maximum temperature in fuel assembly will not overwhelm its working limit during the postulated SGTR accident when the steam content at assembly inlet is less than 15%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Engineering Materials in Extreme Environments)

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