Aluminium foams are of great interest for various industrial applications due to their outstanding properties, such as low weight and high stiffness. These are based not only on the matrix material itself, but also on the structure of the foam. Understanding the formation and development process of these foams is crucial to optimise their structure and thus, their properties. We present experiments that focus on observing and analysing these processes. The experiments presented were carried out using synchrotron X-ray sources, which enable high spatial and temporal resolution in time-resolved tomography (tomoscopy). This advanced imaging technique allows the dynamic changes during the manufacturing process of aluminium foams to be recorded in detail. The experiments carried out provide an example of the spatio-temporal resolutions currently achievable in X-ray tomoscopy, allowing the observation and quantitative analyses of e.g. pore nucleation or bubble coalescence. The results offer valuable insights into the mechanisms that influence the formation and development of aluminium foams and can therefore contribute to the optimisation of material properties. The study demonstrates the potential of time-resolved tomography for the investigation of complex material processes in general.

Lightweight Al-Mg-Sc alloy lattice structures were manufactured through laser powder bed fusion process. Unit cell structure of the lattice structure specimens is rhombic dodecahedron with different relative densities. Compression tests were carried out under different strain rate and temperature conditions. Al-Mg-Sc alloy lattice structures showed high compressive strength compared to Al-Si-Mg lattice structure. The plateau stress was proportional to 1.9 power of relative density at 300 K and 573 K. The plateau stress at 300 K showed the negative strain rate sensitivity exponent of −0.0114, which was caused by the dynamic strain aging effect. The Zener-Hollomon (Z) parameter suggested that different thermally activated kinetics at 300 K and 573 K. Experimental results indicate the potential of Al-Mg-Sc alloy lattice structure as energy absorbing applications.

The effect of Al/O ratio on the development of acicular ferrite microstructure development and the toughness in weld material containing low oxygen has been studied. Three base steel plates with different aluminum contents were prepared by vacuum melting method. The addition of 0∼10% CO2 into Ar shielding gas and the Ar gas double shield technique during arc welding of base plates formed various oxygen levels from 16 to 307 ppm. The samples with different Al/O ratio were thus obtained. The optical microstructures showed that coarse grain boundary ferrite was formed along prior austenite grain boundaries in all samples. When Al/O ratio was from 0.39 to 1.13, some of the inclusions appeared to be acted as nucleation site for acicular ferrite and weld metal with acicular ferrite exhibited good toughness (vTrs < 243 K). In this case, SEM-EDX chemical composition analysis of these inclusions indicated that inclusions were rich in oxygen, manganese and sulfer with a small amount of aluminum and silicon. It was assumed that the MnS precipitated on Al2O3-MnO-SiO2 inclusion and become effective nuclei of acicular ferrite.

This study investigates the trend and reason for the decrease in compressive stress with increasing pore-arrangement irregularity in directional porous metals. Compressive simulations were conducted on models with regular and various degrees of irregular pore arrangements via finite-element analysis, with A6061-O used as the base material. An irregular arrangement was generated by randomly shifting each pore of a regular arrangement while maintaining the porosity. The degree of irregularity in the pore arrangement was evaluated as the average displacement of the pores normalized by the pore diameter. As the irregularity of the pore arrangement increases, a localized plastic strain is observed from small compressive strains in band-like regions, which later exhibits deformation bands at large compressive strains. A decrease in the compressive stress is identified as an increase in the average plastic strain within these band-like regions. This relationship is well described by an approximate linear correlation with a coefficient of determination of 0.76.

Plasmonic nanomaterials (Au, Ag, Pt, and Cu) have attracted attention for enhanced spectroscopic sensing applications. Different approaches have been developed for nanostructure synthesis. In this study, high aspect ratio silver nanowires were successfully synthesized using the polyol method. During the preparation step, iron (III) chloride was introduced as a catalytic agent to help the nanowires development. The influence of FeCl3 reduction time on the morphology and plasmonic behavior of silver nanowires was systematically investigated. The UV-Vis spectra of silver nanowires presented a main absorption peak around 400 nm and a prominent shoulder around 350 nm. Scanning electron microscopy images confirmed the micrometer-scale lengths and narrow diameters. Furthermore, low-cost Surface-Enhanced Infrared Absorption Spectroscopic substrates were fabricated by depositing silver nanowires onto filter paper. Owing to the strong localized surface plasmon resonance of metallic nanostructures, the silver nanowires-based substrates enabled ultrasensitive detection of Eosin Y down to 10 ppb. The study highlighted the key role of iron (III) chloride in silver nanowire synthesis and demonstrated the facile economical preparation of silver nanowire-on filter-paper substrates as chemical sensors for trace-level detection.

All composite materials with Al2O3 as the matrix, TiC as the reinforcing phase, and Ti3SiC2 as the lubricating phase were synthesized in this study. The composites were prepared by using the in-situ reaction of the raw powders of Ti, Si, graphite, Al and Al2O3 through spark sintering technology. Three peaks for both Al2O3-TiC-10 and 20 vol% Ti3SiC2, in densification rate curves corresponded to plastic deformation and power law creep deformation of Al2O3, Ti3SiC2 and TiC, respectively. The Al2O3-TiC-10, 20 vol%Ti3SiC2 compacts showed homogeneously localized Ti3SiC2 as a lubricating phase between the TiC and Al2O3 hard phases. Pin-on-disc friction and wear tests on Al2O3-TiC-0, 10, 20 vol%Ti3SiC2/ Ti-6Al-4V combinations revealed that the introduction of Ti3SiC2 phase could effectively improve the damage morphology of the worn surface, and the optimal wear resistance was exhibited when the content was 20 vol%. Al2O3-TiC-20 vol%Ti3SiC2 tool exhibited superior intermittent cutting performance to WC-7Co tools, particularly in terms of wear resistance and tool life. Judging from the Hv, KIC, cutting and friction-wear properties, it may be believed that Al2O3-TiC-20 vol%Ti3SiC2 compact is replace candidate for the WC-7Co under the rare metal element strategy.