Advances in High-Strength Steels: Microstructure, Mechanical Properties and Applications

A special issue of Metals (ISSN 2075-4701).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2025 | Viewed by 544

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
Interests: advanced high-strength steels; green manufacturing processes of steels; oxidation behavior in steels; nanostructured steels
State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430081, China
Interests: controlling of mechanical and microstructure in high-strength steel; metal oxidation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

High-strength steels are key materials in transportation, deep-sea exploration, aerospace, advanced manufacture, national defense and military industries, fulfilling critical demands for lightweight, safety enhancement, extreme service environment and special performance of large-scale equipment. They cover a wide range of fields, including automobile steel (hot-stamped steel, dual phase steel, transformation-induced plasticity steel, quenching and partitioning steel, medium-Mn steel, etc.), armor steel, wear-resistant steel, spring steel, maraging steel, etc. In recent decades, with the great advancement in the development and design of new types of high-strength steels, more novel materials and their application have been explored in the research. The previous researches mainly focus on the optimization of composition-processing-microstructure-properties relationship, trade-off relationship of strength and ductility (or toughness), simultaneous enhancement of strength-ductility combination and other properties (oxidation resistance, bulletproof property, etc.), service performance (fatigue property, corrosion property, wear-resisting property, hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility, etc.) and application performance (formability, welding property, etc.).

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide the readership of Metals with the most up-to-date research of the microstructure, mechanical properties and applications of high-strength steels. The interests will cover but not be limited to the research topics of composition design, processing method, microstructure control, mechanical properties, forming processes, strength-ductility mechanism, welding property, service performance and applications of high-strength steels. Manuscripts will be welcomed from both fundamental scientific researchers and authors belonging to industrial companies involved in the field.

Dr. Hesong Wang
Dr. Qing Yuan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • high-strength steels
  • composition design
  • processing method
  • microstructure control
  • mechanical properties
  • service performance
  • applications

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 6302 KB  
Article
Low-Alloyed Spring Steel: Nanostructure and Strength After Austempering
by Mikhailo Brykov, Vasily Efremenko, Isabella Gallino, Ivan Petrišinets, Oleksii Kapustyan, Olexandr Klymov, Alexey Efremenko and Vasyl’ Girzhon
Metals 2025, 15(10), 1061; https://doi.org/10.3390/met15101061 - 23 Sep 2025
Viewed by 79
Abstract
Carbide-free bainite microstructures were developed in 0.6 wt.%–2 wt.% Si spring steel via austempering at 250 °C. Heat treatment included austenization with subsequent isothermal holding at 250 °C, varying the holding duration to 1.0, 1.5, or 2.0 h with final cooling in water. [...] Read more.
Carbide-free bainite microstructures were developed in 0.6 wt.%–2 wt.% Si spring steel via austempering at 250 °C. Heat treatment included austenization with subsequent isothermal holding at 250 °C, varying the holding duration to 1.0, 1.5, or 2.0 h with final cooling in water. X-ray diffraction, SEM investigation, tensile test, and hardness measurement were employed to study the microstructure and phase compositions of the samples. It was found that nanostructured bainite developed in the experimental steel. The distribution of distances between phase borders was determined via digital processing of SEM micrographs, and the mode distance was found to be 30 nm. The analytical estimation of possible strengthening showed that the yield strength of the nanobainite obtained should be in the gigapascal range, and the tensile testing results demonstrated that a 2 GPa yield strength was developed in the sample after isothermal treatment at 250 °C for 1 h. Investigations of the fracture surface and microstructure of the cross-section near the fracture zone confirmed the ductile mode of failure. Full article
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