Advanced Lightweight Materials for Elevated Temperature Applications

Engineering sectors such as aerospace, automotive, energy, and defence increasingly require materials that combine low density with reliable mechanical performance at elevated temperatures. Conventional lightweight metals (e.g., Al and Mg) are typically limited to service temperatures below ~300 °C, while nickel-based superalloys provide outstanding high-temperature strength but impose a major weight penalty. This performance gap is accelerating the development of advanced lightweight, high-temperature material systems, including titanium alloys, advanced Al/Mg systems, lightweight high-entropy alloys, and high-temperature composites enabled by progress in alloy design, microstructural control, and environmental protection strategies.This Research Topic focuses on the mechanics-informed design, processing, characterization, modeling, and performance of lightweight materials operating in demanding thermo-mechanical environments. Particular emphasis is placed on how microstructure, phase stability, deformation mechanisms, creep/fatigue, and oxidation/corrosion govern durability from intermediate to very high temperatures (application-dependent). The topic explicitly welcomes contributions that integrate constitutive theory, computational mechanics, data-driven modeling, and simulation-enabled structural validation, linking material behavior to component-scale performance and lifetime.GoalTo advance lightweight material solutions that maintain thermal and mechanical stability at elevated temperatures while enabling substantial weight reduction compared with conventional high-temperature alloys, supported by experiments, mechanics-based modeling, and structure-level assessment.ScopeSubmissions are welcome on (including experimental, numerical, and combined approaches):o Lightweight high-temperature materials and systemso Titanium alloys (near-α, α+β, metastable β), advanced Al/Mg concepts for elevated temperature useo Lightweight high-entropy alloys and compositionally complex alloyso Metal-, ceramic-, and carbon-matrix composites; hybrid and architected material systemso Deformation, damage, and degradation mechanisms (solid/structural mechanics emphasis)o Microstructural stability and phase transformations under thermo-mechanical loadingo Creep, thermo-mechanical fatigue, dwell-fatigue, crack initiation/propagationo Environmental effects: oxidation/corrosion, hot-salt attack, and coating–substrate interactionso Mechanistic links between microstructure → constitutive response → structural integrity/lifeo Modeling, simulation, and data-driven methods (explicitly expanded)o Constitutive modeling for temperature-dependent plasticity, viscoplasticity, creep, and damageo Multi-scale and ICME approaches (microstructure-sensitive modeling; homogenization; phase-field, CPFE, DDD where appropriate)o Structural mechanics and computational methods: FEA-based life prediction, crack growth modeling, fracture/creep–fatigue interaction, uncertainty quantificationo Machine learning / AI-assisted material modeling (e.g., surrogate models for constitutive laws, inverse identification from experiments, microstructure property mapping)o Model validation, calibration strategies, and reproducible benchmarking datasets/workflowso Processing, manufacturing, and optimizationo Alloy/composite design strategies; reinforcement and architecture conceptso Additive manufacturing and advanced processing routes; scalable and cost-effective manufacturingo Process–structure–property–performance relationships and optimization under constraintso Applications and component-level validationo Turbines/propulsion, automotive hot-zone components, energy conversion hardwareo Hypersonic/space structures and thermal protection-related structural elementso Demonstrations that connect lab-scale results to structural design allowables, performance envelopes, or service-relevant lifingArticle TypesOriginal Research and Review articles are invited, and (where appropriate) brief application-focused studies that demonstrate clear mechanics-based insight and/or validation. Topic editors: Deesy G.Pinto, Dayanand Goudar, K Raju Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/77807/advanced-lightweight-materials-for-elevated-temperature-applications