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Editorial Board Members’ Collection Series: Metal Casting, Forming and Heat...
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Editorial Board Members’ Collection Series: Metal Casting, Forming and Heat Treatment

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: 28 February 2025 | Viewed by 2777

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hélder Puga

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CMEMS-UMinho, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
Interests: Al and Mg alloys; melt degassing; alloy refinement; ultrasonic processing; FEA optimization of ultrasonic system; advanced casting manufacture; aluminium foam; micro and nano-reinforced lightweight alloys
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Rongshan Qin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering & Innovation, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
Interests: mesoscale modelling; virtual reality; digital twin
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Oleg Mishin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
Interests: aluminum alloys; high-entropy alloys; thermomechanical processing; recrystallization; texture; mechanical properties; microstructural characterization; electron microscopy; EBSD
Prof. Dr. Heinz-Günter Brokmeier

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department TEXMAT, Clausthal University of Technology and Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG), Max-Planck-Str, D-21502 Geesthacht, Germany
Interests: materials characterization by X-rays; neutrons, synchrotron, and EBSD; instrumentation; texture, phase, and stress analysis; Mg, Al, and Ti alloys; industrial application
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The advanced processes of metal casting, forming, and heat treatment are instrumental in shaping metallic materials to achieve specific properties and configurations. This special issue is dedicated to advancing the understanding of these critical processes through cutting-edge research.

Metal casting is a fundamental manufacturing process used to produce near-net-shape parts, offering numerous advantages:

  • Cost-Effectiveness: Casting is often a more economical option compared to other manufacturing processes, especially for producing complex shapes. Creating complex designs with minimal machining can result in significant cost savings.
  • Flexibility in Dimensions and Weight: Casting accommodates a wide range of sizes and weights, making it suitable for diverse applications. From small, intricate components to large industrial parts, casting can meet various requirements.
  • Ability to Mold Unique Alloys: The casting process can handle various alloys, including unique and specialized types, providing tailored material properties to meet specific needs. This versatility allows for the creation of parts with specific mechanical, thermal, or chemical properties.

Metal forming is a sophisticated process that involves creating high-quality, cost-effective products with superior mechanical properties and innovative designs. Key considerations include:

  • Quality and Cost: Striking a balance between high quality and cost-effectiveness to ensure competitive market products.
  • Mechanical Properties: Achieving superior strength, ductility, and toughness in formed metal products.
  • Innovative Designs: Developing new forms and structures to meet evolving customer and market demands.
  • Understanding Material-Forming Relationships: Understanding the intricate relationships between material structure and various forming processes is crucial.
  • Plastic Instability: Addressing the challenge of unpredictable deformation patterns, which can impact the quality and consistency of formed products.

The process of heat treatment brings significant changes in the characteristics of metallic materials by modifying their internal structure. This results in improved mechanical and physicochemical properties. Key factors to consider include:

  • Optimizing Material Performance: Ensuring that materials meet necessary performance standards and specifications.
  • Impact of Deficiencies: Identify any shortcomings or deficiencies in the materials and take measures to address and mitigate them to prevent adverse effects on the final product.

Call for Papers

This special issue invites researchers and professionals to submit their latest findings and innovations in metal casting, forming, and heat treatment. Contributions should aim to advance the understanding and application of these processes, ultimately improving material performance and manufacturing efficiency.

Dr. Hélder Puga
Prof. Dr. Rongshan Qin
Dr. Oleg Mishin
Prof. Dr. Heinz-Günter Brokmeier
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 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

  • casting processes
  • forming processes
  • heat treatment
  • metals
  • alloys shape design
  • simulation
  • mechanical properties
  • corrosion resistance
  • microstructure
  • anisotropy
  • defects prediction

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.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

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

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 3732 KiB  
Article
Phase-Field Modelling of Bimodal Dendritic Solidification During Al Alloy Die Casting
by Maryam Torfeh, Zhichao Niu and Hamid Assadi
Metals 2025, 15(1), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/met15010066 - 13 Jan 2025
Viewed by 567
Abstract
Tracking the microstructural evolution during high-pressure die casting of Al-Si alloys is challenging due to the rapid solidification, varying thermal conditions, and severe turbulence. The process involves a transition from slower cooling in the shot sleeve to rapid cooling in the die cavity, [...] Read more.
Tracking the microstructural evolution during high-pressure die casting of Al-Si alloys is challenging due to the rapid solidification, varying thermal conditions, and severe turbulence. The process involves a transition from slower cooling in the shot sleeve to rapid cooling in the die cavity, resulting in a bimodal dendritic microstructure and nucleation of new finer dendrite arms on fragmented externally solidified crystals. In this study, a two-dimensional phase-field model was employed to investigate the solidification behaviour of a hypoeutectic Al-7% Si alloy during high-pressure die casting. The model is based on thermodynamic formulations that account for temperature changes due to phase transformation heat, thermal boundary conditions, and solute diffusion in both liquid and solid phases. To replicate the observed bimodal microstructure, solid–liquid interface properties such as thickness, energy, and mobility were systematically varied to reflect the transition from the shot sleeve to the die cavity. The results demonstrated the model’s ability to capture the growth of dendrites under shot sleeve conditions and nucleation and development of new dendrite arms under the rapid cooling conditions of the die cavity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members’ Collection Series: Metal Casting, Forming and Heat Treatment)
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15 pages, 11326 KiB  
Article
Restoration of Properties of Heat-Resistant Steel After Long-Term Operation in Steam Pipeline Bends of TPP by Heat Treatment
by Halyna Krechkovska, Ivan Tsybailo, Ihor Dzioba, Oleksandra Student and Robert Pała
Metals 2025, 15(1), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/met15010021 - 30 Dec 2024
Viewed by 513
Abstract
To improve the microstructure and mechanical properties of heat-resistant 12Kh1MF steel after long-term operation in the stretched bend zone of the main steam pipeline of a thermal power plant, restorative heat treatment (RHT) was proposed. The RHT mode consisted of two normalization stages [...] Read more.
To improve the microstructure and mechanical properties of heat-resistant 12Kh1MF steel after long-term operation in the stretched bend zone of the main steam pipeline of a thermal power plant, restorative heat treatment (RHT) was proposed. The RHT mode consisted of two normalization stages (from temperatures of 1100 and 960 °C, respectively) followed by tempering at a temperature of 740 °C. The RHT mode, regulated for steel in the initial state, was applied only after its normalization from a significantly higher temperature (1100 °C). It was shown that the proportion of fine grains in the steel structure increased to 55% over the entire pipe wall thickness after using RHT. At the same time, the proportion of large grains in the restored steel decreased significantly (to 10%), while in exploited steel, their proportion reached almost 50%. The proposed RHT mode increased the hardness, strength, plasticity, and resistance to brittle fracture of the restored steel relative to the corresponding characteristics of the operated steel. The maximum positive effect of the RHT was obtained during impact testing. The fractographic features of the exploited and restored steel were studied on fractures of samples tested by tension. The main fractographic feature of the operated steel was nanosized particles at the bottom of large dimples. These tiny particles were considered to be fragments of large carbides formed due to their final decohesion from the matrix during tensile testing. However, such nanosized particles were not found on the samples’ fracture surfaces in the steel after restorative heat treatment. In addition, the ductile dimples on the fractures of the restored steel were more prominent, which indicated high energy costs for their formation. Thus, all the obtained research results suggest the possibility of using the proposed RHT mode to extend the service life of long-operated critical elements of a thermal power plant’s steam pipelines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members’ Collection Series: Metal Casting, Forming and Heat Treatment)
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12 pages, 7574 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Process Parameters on the Pore Structure of Lotus-Type Porous Copper Fabricated via Continuous Casting
by Byung-Sue Shin and Soong-Keun Hyun
Metals 2024, 14(11), 1243; https://doi.org/10.3390/met14111243 - 31 Oct 2024
Viewed by 667
Abstract
The pores in lotus-type porous copper are formed due to the difference in hydrogen solubility between the liquid and solid phases of copper. In a pressurized hydrogen atmosphere, hydrogen gas is released at the gas release and crystallization temperature, which is the melting [...] Read more.
The pores in lotus-type porous copper are formed due to the difference in hydrogen solubility between the liquid and solid phases of copper. In a pressurized hydrogen atmosphere, hydrogen gas is released at the gas release and crystallization temperature, which is the melting point of copper. This study systematically analyzes the effects of process parameters, including hydrogen ratio, total pressure, and continuous casting speed, on the pore structure of lotus-type porous copper, with the aim of identifying the most critical process parameters for controlling pore diameter and density. Within the hydrogen ratio up to 50%, it was observed that as the hydrogen ratio increases, the pores tend to increase in porosity, and the pore diameter increases. As the hydrogen ratio increased from 25% to 50%, the pore diameter increased from 300 μm to 400 μm, while the pore density decreased from 3.3 N·mm−2 to 2.8 N·mm−2. As the total pressure increased, the pore diameter tended to decrease, and the pore density increased. Specifically, when the total pressure increased from 0.2 MPa to 0.4 MPa, the pore diameter decreased from 1100 μm to 400 μm, while the pore density increased significantly from 0.5 N·mm−2 to 2.8 N·mm−2. In addition, as the continuous casting speed increased, 30 to 90 mm·min−1, the pore diameter decreased from 850 μm to 400 μm, and the pore density increased from 0.7 N·mm−2 to 2.8. N·mm−2. Specifically, the increase in total pressure led to a decrease in Gibbs free energy and a reduction in the critical pore nucleation radius, which promoted pore formation and resulted in the creation of more, smaller pores. These results suggest that total pressure is the primary factor influencing both pore diameter and density in lotus-type porous copper. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members’ Collection Series: Metal Casting, Forming and Heat Treatment)
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16 pages, 11277 KiB  
Article
Microstructural and Oxidation Effects of Nb Additions to U3Si2
by Geronimo Robles, Joshua T. White, Scarlett Widgeon Paisner and Elizabeth S. Sooby
Metals 2024, 14(11), 1239; https://doi.org/10.3390/met14111239 - 30 Oct 2024
Viewed by 648
Abstract
U3Si2 is a long term, accident-tolerant nuclear fuel candidate for light-water reactors because of its superior thermal conductivity and increased uranium density when compared to traditional uranium dioxide (UO2). While reducing internal thermal stresses and increasing efficiency, U [...] Read more.
U3Si2 is a long term, accident-tolerant nuclear fuel candidate for light-water reactors because of its superior thermal conductivity and increased uranium density when compared to traditional uranium dioxide (UO2). While reducing internal thermal stresses and increasing efficiency, U3Si2 exhibits energetic oxidation during certain off-normal and accident scenarios, which include coolant or steam exposure. To mitigate this, Nb is investigated as an alloy constituent to enhance corrosion resistance and increase mechanical strength. The work presented investigates the response of Nb-alloyed U3Si2 to steam atmospheres. A thermogravimetric analysis is conducted in flowing steam to T > 1000 °C to assess oxidation resistance. The phase characterization of as-melted, thermally annealed and post-oxidation compositions with up to 12 vol% Nb by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy is reported. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Editorial Board Members’ Collection Series: Metal Casting, Forming and Heat Treatment)
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