General introduction to critical materials

A growing world population and rising levels of prosperity are driving up the global demand for energy and materials and are increasing the negative impact on the environment. Challenges related to energy use, materials consumption, and climate change are closely intertwined. On the one hand, producing materials consumes about 21% of global energy use and is responsible for about the same percentage of carbon emitted to the atmosphere. On the other hand, the transition from a fossil to a non-fossil electricity mix — to mitigate climate change — would result in a much higher usage of metals. The increase in the usage of metals would range from a few percent to a factor of a thousand for certain metals. Concerns over the future security of the supply of raw materials has led to the identification of critical raw materials for the USA, Japan, and the EU.4–8 As part of the World Scientific Series on Current Energy Issues, this book is focused on ‘Critical Materials’

Critical Materials: Underlying Causes and Sustainable Mitigation Strategies

This book covers a new frontier of research in Critical Materials that provides insight in terms of the possible sustainable mitigation strategies, the complexity, broadness and multi-disciplinarity of the subject. By exploring in both "systems view" and "in-depth materials view" in the light of circular economy, this book tackles the problem of sustainable usage of materials that is closely intertwined with the energy issue and climate change. Topics covered include: geopolitics of materials, the energy-materials nexus, definitions of the criticality of materials, circular product design, the development of alternative materials (substitution), sustainable mining and recycling

Theoretical and Experimental Development of Surface Tension Measurements under Arc Plasma Conditions

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials EngineeringTechnische Materiaalwetenschappe

Evolving Microstructures in Carbon Steel: A Neutron and Synchrotron Radiation Study

Aerospace Engineerin

Substitution case study: Replacing niobium by vanadium in nano-steels

The substitution of critical alloying elements in metals is a strategy to reduce the criticality of materials. Nano-steels are a novel grade of advanced highstrength steels that are suited for application in the chassis and suspension of cars and as fire-resistant steel in high-rise buildings. The high strength and ductility per unit mass make the nano-steels resource-efficient and reduce vehicle weight while maintaining crash worthiness. The excellent mechanical properties of certain nano-steels rely on the addition of small amounts (up to 0.1 wt.%) of Niobium as alloying element to the steel. Niobium is considered to be a critical raw material by the European Union due to its high economic importance as an alloying element in advanced, high-strength steel grades and due to the high supply risk related to the high degree of monopolistic production within the supply chain. This chapter describes the fundamental materials science that is needed for the substitution of the critical alloying element Niobium by Vanadium as an alloying element in nano-steels.MSE-

The role of alpha/gamma orientation relationships during ferrite nucleation in an Fe-Cr-Ni alloy

The role of the alpha/gamma orientation relationships during ferrite nucleation is investigated. EBSD measurements were performed on an especially developed high purity ternary iron-based alloy with 20 wt.% Cr and 12 wt.% Ni with both austenite and ferrite present at room temperature to measure the orientation relationship between the austenite and ferrite crystallites. The experimental results are compared to the nucleation models of Clemm and Fisher and Aaronson and co-workers