Recent Developments in Nanostructured Materials

Nanostructured materials with extremely fine grain sizes, typically less than 100 nm, have been shown to exhibit extremely high strength and hardness, increased diffusivity, useful sintering characteristics, and other unusual properties. Significant developments have taken place in recent years in trying to achieve high strength and ductility at the same time. New and potential applications are also being sought after. Several commercial ventures have also started (estimated to be around 1000 in different parts of the world). This overview will present the recent developments in our understanding of the mechanical behavior and molecular dynamics simulation studies, highlight the present unresolved issues, and discuss some of the promising applications for these novel and exciting materials.     

二硅化钼材料的研究现状及应用前景

二硅化钼作为一种重要的高温发热材料和结构材料,一直受到材料科学家的广泛重视．本文对二硅化钼及其复合材料国内外的研究现状进行了全面介绍,对近年来的研究方向进行了归纳和总结,包括高温变形、氧化机理和复合强化等方面．指出了国内这些方面的研究与国际水平相比存在的差距和不足,并分析了原因．最后,对二硅化钼及其复合材料的应用市场前景进行了分析和展望．     

Recent Progress in the Development of Gamma Titanium Aluminide Alloys

Intermetallic titanium aluminides offer an attractive combination of low density and good oxidation and ignition resistance with unique mechanical properties. These involve high strength and elastic stiffness with excellent high temperature retention. Thus, they are one of the few classes of emerging materials that have the potential to be used in demanding high‐temperature structural applications whenever specific strength and stiffness are of major concern. However, in order to effectively replace the heavier nickel‐base superalloys currently in use, titanium aluminides must combine a wide range of mechanical property capabilities. Advanced alloy designs are tailored for strength, toughness, creep resistance, and environmental stability. These concerns are addressed in the present paper through global commentary on the physical metallurgy and associated processing technologies of γ‐TiAl‐base alloys. Particular emphasis is paid on recent developments of TiAl alloys with enhanced high‐temperature capability.     

非晶合金泡沫材料的研究进展

非晶合金泡沫是结合金属泡沫与非晶合金两者优点而发展起来的一类新型结构材料。作为轻质与强韧的完美统一,非晶合金泡沫材料近年来受到国内外学者越来越多的关注。本文简要综述了非晶合金泡沫的发展、制备以及力学性能的研究进展,提出当前工作中存在的问题,并就本领域今后值得关注的问题进行展望。     

Applications of bio-inspired special wettable surfaces

In this review we focus on recent developments in applications of bio-inspired special wettable surfaces. We highlight surface materials that in recent years have shown to be the most promising in their respective fields for use in future applications. The selected topics are divided into three groups, applications of superhydrophobic surfaces, surfaces of patterned wettability and integrated multifunctional surfaces and devices. We will present how the bio-inspired wettability has been integrated into traditional materials or devices to improve their performances and to extend their practical applications by developing new functionalities.     

新型高阻尼金属材料的研究进展

综述了近年来有关新型高阻尼金属材料的研究思路，制备方法和性能研究等方面取得的进展，指出目前研究中存在的总是和高阻尼金属材料的研究方向，并展望了高阻尼金属／金属复合体材料未来的研究与应用前景。     

航天器结构材料的应用现状与未来展望

随着大型复杂高精度航天器的迅速发展和深空探测器开发进程的加快,航天器对于轻质高强结构材料的需求异常迫切。轻合金、碳纤维复合材料等的进步为航天器结构的更新换代做出重要贡献,成为当前航天器结构材料的主体,增材制造的发展又为材料结构形式的改进提供了重要手段。文章从航天器结构材料的需求出发,分析了卫星常用金属材料与复合材料的基本性能、应用情况及存在的问题。最后结合近年来开展的预先研究和其他行业的材料发展及新兴技术的出现,对航天器用结构材料的未来发展进行了展望。     

Progress in 3D Printing of Carbon Materials for Energy‐Related Applications

The additive‐manufacturing (AM) technique, known as three‐dimensional (3D) printing, has attracted much attention in industry and academia in recent years. 3D printing has been developed for a variety of applications. Printable inks are the most important component for 3D printing, and are related to the materials, the printing method, and the structures of the final 3D‐printed products. Carbon materials, due to their good chemical stability and versatile nanostructure, have been widely used in 3D printing for different applications. Good inks are mainly based on volatile solutions having carbon materials as fillers such as graphene oxide (GO), carbon nanotubes (CNT), carbon blacks, and solvent, as well as polymers and other additives. Studies of carbon materials in 3D printing, especially GO‐based materials, have been extensively reported for energy‐related applications. In these circumstances, understanding the very recent developments of 3D‐printed carbon materials and their extended applications to address energy‐related challenges and bring new concepts for material designs are becoming urgent and important. Here, recent developments in 3D printing of emerging devices for energy‐related applications are reviewed, including energy‐storage applications, electronic circuits, and thermal‐energy applications at high temperature. To close, a conclusion and outlook are provided, pointing out future designs and developments of 3D‐printing technology based on carbon materials for energy‐related applications and beyond.     

Metal nanoparticles and related materials supported on carbon nanotubes: methods and applications

Carbon nanotubes are one of the most intensively explored nanostructured materials. In particular, carbon nanotubes are unique and ideal templates onto which to immobilize nanoparticles allowing the construction of designed nanoarchitectures that are extremely attractive as supports for heterogeneous catalysts, for use in fuel cells, and in related technologies that exploit the inherent 'smallness' and hollow characteristics of the nanoparticles. Here we overview the recent developments in this area by exploring the various techniques in which nanotubes can be functionalized with metals and other nanoparticles and explore the diverse applications of the resulting materials.     

Metal‐Organic Frameworks: Metal‐Organic Frameworks: A Rapidly Growing Class of Versatile Nanoporous Materials (Adv. Mater. 2/2011)

Metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) represent a new class of hybrid organic‐inorganic supramolecular materials comprised of ordered networks formed from organic electron donor linkers and metal cations. They can exhibit extremely high surface areas, as well as tunable pore size and functionality, and can act as hosts for a variety of guest molecules. Since their discovery, MOFs have enjoyed extensive exploration, with applications ranging from gas storage to drug delivery to sensing. This review covers advances in the MOF field from the past three years, focusing on applications, including gas separation, catalysis, drug delivery, optical and electronic applications, and sensing. We also summarize recent work on methods for MOF synthesis and computational modeling.     

Methods to increase the toughness of structural adhesives with micro particles: an overview with focus on cork particles

Structural adhesives are used increasingly in new applications replacing conventional joining methods. Epoxy adhesives have the widest range of application of the various classes of adhesives arising principally from their extremely wide set of performance properties. They are known for their high stiffness and strength, as well for their low ductility and toughness. Currently, there is an increasing interest in developing methods of improving toughness. A toughened adhesive in general contains elastic or thermoplastic domains dispersed in discrete form throughout the resin matrix, in order to increase the resistance to crack‐growth initiation. This paper provides an overview of the current developments in the use of reinforcement materials and introduces the reader to early findings on the use of micro particles for toughness enhancement of adhesives. The theme of the use of materials of natural origin as reinforcement materials, giving special emphasis to the use of cork particles as toughener material is also presented.     

钛合金激光表面熔覆的研究与进展

钛合金具有优异的高比强,良好的抗腐蚀、蠕变、疲劳和韧性,但其表面抗磨性能差,不能作为机械零件使用,大大限制了其性能潜力的发挥.为提高钛合金的表面性能,激光熔覆技术在钛合金表面上进行了相关的研究,获得了陶瓷相增强的高硬度金属基体复合涂层,为钛合金在机械零件上的应用提供了理论基础.本文综述了近几年来钛合金激光熔覆技术的状况,存在的问题,提出进一步研究的方向.     

Structure and properties of nanocrystalline materials

The present article reviews the current status of research and development on the structure and properties of nanocrystalline materials. Nanocrystalline materials are polycrystalline materials with grain sizes of up to about 100 nm. Because of the extremely small dimensions, a large fraction of the atoms in these materials is located at the grain boundaries, and this confers special attributes. Nanocrystalline materials can be prepared by inert gas-condensation, mechanical alloying, plasma deposition, spray conversion processing, and many other methods. These have been briefly reviewed. A clear picture of the structure of nanocrystalline materials is emerging only now. Whereas the earlier studies reasoned out that the structure of grain boundaries in nanocrystalline materials was quite different from that in coarse-grained materials, recent studies using spectroscopy, high-resolution electron microscopy, and computer simulation techniques showed unambiguously that the structure of the grain boundaries is the same in both nanocrystalline and coarse-grained materials. A critical analysis of this aspect and grain growth is presented. The properties of nanocrystalline materials are very often superior to those of conventional polycrystalline coarse-grained materials. Nanocrystalline materials exhibit increased strength/hardness, enhanced diffusivity, improved ductility/toughness, reduced density, reduced elastic modulus, higher electrical resistivity, increased specific heat, higher thermal expansion coefficient, lower thermal conductivity, and superior soft magnetic properties in comparison to conventional coarse-grained materials. Recent results on these properties, with special emphasis on mechanical properties, have been discussed. New concepts of nanocomposites and nanoglasses are also being investigated with special emphasis on ceramic composites to increase their strength and toughness. Even though no components made of nanocrystalline materials are in use in any application now, there appears to be a great potential for applications in the near future. The extensive investigations in recent years on structure-property correlations in nanocrystalline materials have begun to unravel the complexities of these materials, and paved the way for successful exploitation of the alloy design principles to synthesize better materials than hitherto available.     

Controllable Synthesis of 2D Materials by Electrochemical Exfoliation for Energy Storage and Conversion Application

2D materials have captured much recent research interest in a broad range of areas, including electronics, biology, sensors, energy storage, and others. In particular, preparing 2D nanosheets with high quality and high yield is crucial for the important applications in energy storage and conversion. Compared with other prevailing synthetic strategies, the electrochemical exfoliation of layered starting materials is regarded as one of the most promising and convenient methods for the large-scale production of uniform 2D nanosheets. Here, recent developments in electrochemical delamination are reviewed, including protocols, categories, principles, and operating conditions. State-of-the-art methods for obtaining 2D materials with small numbers of layers—including graphene, black phosphorene, transition metal dichalcogenides and MXene—are also summarized and discussed in detail. The applications of electrochemically exfoliated 2D materials in energy storage and conversion are systematically reviewed. Drawing upon current progress, perspectives on emerging trends, existing challenges, and future research directions of electrochemical delamination are also offered.     

Advances in multimetallic alloy-based anodes for alkali-ion and alkali-metal batteries

In order to meet the growing demand of portable electronic devices and electric vehicles, enhancements in battery performance metrics are required to provide higher energy/power densities and longer cycle lives, especially for anode materials. Alloying anodes, such as Group IVA elements-based materials, are attracting increasing interest as anodes for next-generation high-performance alkali-metal-ion batteries (AMIBs) owing to their extremely high specific capacities, low working voltages, and natural abundance. Nevertheless, alloying-type anodes usually display unsatisfactory cycle life due to their intrinsic violent volumetric and structural changes during the charge–discharge process, causing mechanical fracture and exacerbating side reactions. In order to overcome these challenges, efforts have been made in recent years to manufacture multimetallic anodes that can accommodate the induced strain, thus showing high Coulomb efficiency and long cycle life. Meanwhile, much work has been conducted to understand the details of structural changes and reaction mechanisms taking place by in-situ characterization methodologies. In this paper, we review the various recent developments in multimetallic anode materials for AMIBs and shed light on optimizing the anode materials. Finally, the perspectives and future challenges in achieving the practical applications of multimetallic alloy anodes in high-energy AMIB systems are proposed.     

The use of composite materials in modern orthopaedic medicine and prosthetic devices: A review

The use of fibre reinforced composite materials for biomedical purposes is reviewed. The development of polymer composite materials has, in recent years, led to technological advances across a wide range of applications in modern orthopaedic medicine and prosthetic devices. Composites typically possess a superior strength to weight characteristic compared to monolithic materials and offer excellent biocompatibility. They are, therefore, favourable for both hard- and soft-tissue applications as well as the design of prostheses. In particular, the development of specifically designed carbon fibre sports prostheses now allows lower-limb amputees to actively participate in competitive sports. Sensory feedback systems, porous composite materials for tissue engineering and functional coatings for metallic implants are further developments anticipated to be introduced in next generation orthopaedic medicine.     

Graphene synthesis and band gap opening

Graphene-the wonder material has attracted a great deal of attention from varied fields of condensed matter physics, materials science and chemistry in recent times. Its 2D atomic layer structure and unique electronic band structure makes it attractive for many applications. Its high carrier mobility, high electrical and thermal conductivity make it an exciting material. However, its applicability cannot be effectively realised unless facile techniques to synthesize high quality, large area graphene are developed in a cost effective way. Besides that a great deal of effort is required to develop techniques for modifying and opening its band structure so as to make it a potential replacement for silicon in future electronics. Considerable research has been carried out for synthesizing graphene and related materials by a variety of processes and at the same time a great deal of work has also taken place for manipulating and opening its electronic band structure. This review summarizes recent developments in the synthesis methods for graphene. It also summarizes the developments in graphene nanoribbon synthesis and methods to open band gap in graphene, in addition to pointing out a direction for future research and developments.     

Editorial:Polymer Fibres 2000 The Manchester Conference Centre, Manchester, UK, 5-7 July 2000

Natural polymers fibres such as hair and wool have been exploited since antiquity. The development of synthetic polymers in the last century was driven partly by the need for man-made fibres. Because of this, polymer fibres have been the focus of intensive research for a many years and, by some people, the field is now perceived as being mature. This, however, is far from the case and in recent years there have been unparalleled developments in the preparation of new polymer-based fibres, new techniques of fibre characterisation and novel applications of polymer fibres. Moreover, polymer fibres are finding increasing use in high-performance composites where their high levels of stiffness and strength combined with low density give rise to materials with outstanding mechanical properties.     

A review and new perspectives for the magnetocaloric effect: New materials and local heating and cooling inside the human body

Nowadays, the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) is considered to be one of the most important fundamental thermodynamic effects to be employed in various technological applications. At present researchers focus mainly on environmentally-friendly magnetic materials and their applications in heating, refrigeration and magnetic energy conversion technologies. However, one must also pay attention to the increasing number of medical applications of the MCE, as e.g. controllable delivery and release of drugs and biomedical substances to defined locations in the human body, and applications of magnetic hyperthermia (cancer treatment). The first method demands local cooling of thermo-sensitive polymers in the body and the second induces local heating by a magnetic mechanism. In the first part of this article the recent progress in magnetocalorics (mainly on materials) is reviewed and the possibilities to increase the effect, e.g. by studying the interactions of magnetic and structural subsystems of magnetic materials in the vicinity of magnetic phase transitions and critical points, are outlined. To determine such and other important phenomena in the MCE, dynamic measurements have been developed. In the second part of the article the applications of the MCE in new methods, developed for applications in medical fields, as briefly mentioned above, are introduced and discussed. It is clear that a comprehensive overview on all important developments cannot be given here. Therefore, only the most important works are cited with a focus on important developments of Russian research. We ask those authors, who have contributed to the MCE and stay unmentioned in this review article, for their understanding.     

STATUS IN HUMAN STRENGTH RESEARCH AND APPLICATION

Measurement of human strengths provides a database to aid in the design of jobs, work places, equipment, tools, and controls. Occasionally, strength measurements are also used in worker screening procedures. In the last few years, many new developments, particularly in the area of human dynamic strengths, have taken place. This position paper discusses these recent developments in human strengths and their applications. Unresolved research and application issues are also discussed.