Revealing the Formation, Growth, Prevalence and Impact of Metal Whiskers

A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701). This special issue belongs to the section "Structural Integrity of Metals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 August 2023) | Viewed by 316

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, Konarskiego 18A, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Interests: finite element method; laser-material interaction; data-driven materials science; artificial neural network; Pb-free solder alloys; intermetallic compounds; multi-principal element alloys; dynamics at materials interface; multiphysics simulation; heat transfer; transport phenomena at mesoscale; in situ imaging techniques
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Guest Editor
Department of Materials Science and Applied Mathematics, Faculty of Technology and Society, Malmö University, 21119 Malmö, Sweden
Interests: imaging; microscopy; crystal plasticity; Pb-free solders; intermetallic compounds; lightweight materials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In this era of big data and Industry 4.0, huge significance is attached to the integrity and reliability of devices and components used in scientific and technological applications. Metallic materials are utilized in industrial applications at a large scale. Metal whiskers are hair-like protrusions that spontaneously grow from the surface of certain metals (e.g., Sn, Zn, Cd, Ge or Pb). The growth of whiskers can cause short-circuit problems and other reliability issues in the context of devices with electrical connections.

Though metal whiskering is a commonly observed phenomenon in industrial applications, the exact mechanisms responsible for the formation and growth of these single crystals are not fully understood hitherto. Some evidence has been observed regarding the role of mechanical stress and stress gradients as the triggering factor for the growth of these structures. However, much more study is needed at multi-length and -time scales to completely unravel the mechanisms driving the formation, growth, and prevalence of metal whiskers.

Therefore, it is necessary to amalgamate the aspects of experiments, modeling, and data science for state-of-the-art multi-scale characterization and description of metal whiskers. The quantitative data of whiskers’ origin and impact can be essentially utilized for the retrospective design of techniques to reduce the probability of their incidence. This Special Issue is aimed at recent advances in mechanistic and experimental investigation of metallic whiskers, including exploratory study using machine learning models.

Dr. Anil Kunwar
Dr. Johan Hektor
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • whiskers
  • crystal plasticity
  • finite element analysis
  • machine learning
  • phase field method
  • imaging
  • strain gradients
  • diffraction
  • microscopy
  • molecular dynamics

Published Papers

There is no accepted submissions to this special issue at this moment.
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