Latest Developments

Shyam, A.; Bahl, S. Heat-resistant aluminium alloys. Nature Materials. 2023, 22: 425-426.

Introduction

Scandium added to Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys leads to an in situ phase transformation of coherent Cu-rich nanoprecipitates at elevated temperature, with Sc atoms diffusing and occupying their interstitial sites. The transformed nanoprecipitates have enhanced thermal stability while maintaining a large volume fraction and these two microstructural features enable high tensile strength of the Al alloy with creep resistance up to 400 °C.

Jin, Z. Z.; et al. Alloying design and microstructural control strategies towards developing Mg alloys with enhanced ductility. Journal of Magnesium and Alloys. 2022: 1191-1206.

Introduction

Nowadays, magnesium (Mg) alloys are promising lightweight structural materials, especially in transportation and aerospace fields, due to their inherent low density and high specific strength. Most of the high-strength Mg alloys exhibit poor formability and ductility at room temperature, which limit their wide applications. However, by proper alloying design and/or delicate microstructural control, some newly developed Mg alloys, including rare-earth (RE) and RE-free ones, show enhanced ductility without significant loss of strength. To identify the critical reasons, the authors review recent research on ductile Mg alloys in terms of microstructural control of alloy design strategies and advanced processing techniques.

Li, R.; et al. Alloying strategy for high-performance zinc metal anodes. ACS Energy Letters. 2022, 8: 457-476.

Introduction

Owing to the advantages of low cost, high energy density, and environment friendly, aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs) are considered as promising energy storage devices.  Inevitable zinc dendrites, corrosion, passivation, and hydrogen evolution reactions of zinc anodes have seriously hampered the practical application of AZIBs. To address the above-mentioned issues, zinc anode alloying is proposed as an emerging modification strategy. Therefore, it is essential to systematically summarize the obtained research results on zinc alloying strategies and analyze new perspectives. In this paper, different improvement mechanisms are described based on the presented studies on zinc alloying anode. According to the different synthesis methods and mechanisms of action, recent advances have been summarized. Finally, the potential development prospects for further upgrading the alloying of zinc anodes are presented.

Tavares, S.; et al. Heusler alloys: Past, properties, new alloys, and prospects. Progress in Materials Science. 2022: 101017.

Introduction

Heusler alloys, discovered serendipitously at the beginning of the twentieth century, have emerged in the twenty-first century as exciting materials for numerous remarkable functional applications, including spintronics and thermos-electric devices. The basic structural characteristic is an ordered structure with a face-centered cubic (FCC) superlattice and a body-centered cubic (BCC) unit cell. This structure separates the atoms into distances not encountered in their pure state nor disordered solid solutions and this provides the opportunity for exploring a range of novel material properties. This class of materials is exiting the laboratories, where they were a curiosity and the object of basic investigations, to technological applications.

This article reviews the steps leading to the discovery of these materials, the fundamental principles behind their magnetic and electronic properties, their mechanical properties, and the magnetic shape memory effects exhibited by some of them. The computational design of Heusler alloys is also presented. At the end of the article, the authors discuss the current challenges and future directions of the field.