3 Review(s)

This special collection provides up-to-date knowledge concerning the field of functional materials such as shape memory alloys, piezoelectric ceramics and aluminium alloys. The articles therein also deal with recent investigations of quasicrystals and geopolymers: two classes of hybrid material that have attracted great scientific interest, given their unusual properties and potential engineering applications. Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters CPCI-S (WoS). In the first part, the papers address key issues concerning the application of two classes of functional alloy: (i) NiTi alloys, having important applications in the fields of smart structures and bioengineering; and (ii) CuAlBe alloys, as applied to non-welded pipe joints. In both classes, the papers focus upon industrial-scale examples associated with two classical metallurgical processes (electron-beam and conventional melting techniques).