Ebook: Metallic Materials with High Structural Efficiency

In the fall of 1998, Prof. Sergey Firstov invited me to the Frantcevych Institute for Problems of Materials Science (IPMS) in Kyiv, Ukraine to discuss possible collaborations in the area of advanced metals research. During this visit, a strong mutual interest was evident in a broad range of structural metals technologies, and a quick friendship was established. Countless subsequent emails and a reciprocal visit to the U. S Air Force Research Laboratory by Prof. Firstov and a team of scientists from IPMS ensued to discuss and detail a broad collaboration in the area of structural metals. Two years after the initial visit, a major investment by the U. S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) was established to pursue the technologies defined by these interactions. The annual reviews of the AFOSR Ukrainian Metals Initiative were held in late May, a most beautiful time in Kyiv when the lilacs are in bright display and the air is scented with the smell of falling blossoms from the chestnut trees that line the major streets and many parks. The sunny days and mild evenings provide a welcome break from winter, and on weekend evenings festive crowds spill onto the Khreshchatyk, Kyiv’s downtown boulevard, to listen to street musicians, watch jugglers and comedians, or simply to celebrate with friends. The annual reviews featured long days of intensive discussion of technical progress, followed in the evenings by the warm hospitality of the Ukrainian hosts.

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This book on the conception, development and application of metallic materials with high specific strength and high specific stiffness, or high structural efficiency, encompasses the scientific foundation necessary to control properties through control of composition, processing and microstructure, and also addresses the current state of the development of such materials as well as the conception of new metallic materials with high structural efficiency. The dominant emphasis is on aerospace applications. A number of new developments are presented, including information on titanium alloys modified with boron and silicon to provide dramatic improvements in strength and stiffness, and new aluminium alloys strengthened with quasi-crystalline precipitates for good high temperature properties. There is also an extensive update on sever plastic deformation and on nanocrystalline metals for structural applications.