MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Engineering and Materials Science A publishes theoretical and experimental studies on the load-bearing capacity of materials as influenced by their basic properties, processing history, microstructure, and operating environment on an international scale. Submissions to Materials Science and Engineering A should include scientific and/or engineering factors that affect the microstructure-strength relationships of materials and report on the changes in mechanical behaviour.

MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING - ScienceDirect

Please be aware that the journal's Aims and Scope have recently been updated. Papers on concrete and cement-based systems, as well as polymeric and polymer-based materials, will no longer be considered or published by the journal. Furthermore, papers with a focus on corrosion or wear are discouraged unless they address novel mechanical behaviour or related phenomena.

Materials' mechanical behaviour is typically governed by processes that span multiple length and time scales. In recent years, there has been a rapid expansion of available testing strategies for examining elastic, plastic, fracture, and fatigue properties at multiple length scales, with control of loading mode, temperature, and atmosphere, as well as imaging during deformation and the use of a wide range of available signals. These nano- and micromechanical testing methods are becoming increasingly important in all fields of materials research, including metals, ceramics, glasses, polymers, coatings, composites, and biomaterials, contributing to a better understanding of the complex mechanical behaviour of advanced materials. The new test methods can quantitatively evaluate time-dependent properties, phase transformations, fracture phenomena, and toughness in addition to hardness.

Temperature and rate dependence, as well as other environmental and test parameters such as exposure to aggressive atmospheres or radiation, are of great interest for many applications.

This special issue collects original articles and reviews in the field of experimental mechanics, with a focus on nano- and micro-mechanical testing and a special emphasis on bridging observations across multiple length scales, coupling them with modelling, and employing new data science methods. This includes, among other things:

Observing phenomena at various length scales, from the atomic scale (i.e., dislocation nucleation and propagation in single crystals or at individual interfaces) to the mesoscale (from oligocrystals to polycrystals) - contributions that bridge observations across multiple length scales are especially welcome.

SEM, TEM, AFM, optical microscopy, X-Ray, neutron and electron characterization (both imaging and diffraction);

correlated microscopy is the use of various spectroscopy techniques (photon, phonon, electron, ion, or combinations) to understand deformation processes in advanced structural materials.

Nano- and micromechanical testing, including testing under service conditions (operando);

Data post-processing, including full field measurements, image and volume correlation, and time-resolved experiments to uncover dynamic processes that occur far from equilibrium;

Modeling integration for mechanistic discovery, experimental interpretation, parameter calibration, or model validation;

Application of artificial intelligence, data-driven methods, and materials informatics in materials science in the context of nano- and microscale material deformation.

MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING