Multiscale Correlative Characterization of Structural Materials Performance in Extreme Environments

Structural materials operating in extreme environments are subjected to complex combinations of mechanical loading, aggressive chemical environments, elevated temperatures, irradiation, and other external stimuli that can progressively degrade their performance and reliability. Such degradation is governed by interactions among microstructure, chemistry, defects, interfaces, and local stress states across multiple length and time scales. Understanding these interactions is essential for identifying the mechanisms that control material damage and for developing more durable and reliable structural materials.

Recent advances in nanoscale, multimodal, correlative, in situ, and operando characterization have enabled unprecedented insight into the evolution of materials under demanding service conditions. By integrating advanced electron microscopy, spectroscopy, X-ray and neutron diffraction, tomography, electrochemical measurements, mechanical testing, and computational approaches, it's now possible to directly relate local microstructural and chemical changes to macroscopic material performance. These capabilities are advancing the mechanistic understanding of corrosion, deformation, fatigue, fracture, creep, irradiation damage, hydrogen embrittlement, environmentally assisted cracking, wear, and other degradation phenomena.

This Research Topic aims to highlight recent fundamental and applied advances in the characterization of materials performance in extreme environments. We welcome submissions of manuscripts involving advanced experimental, computational, and correlative approaches to understand degradation mechanisms and establish structure-property-performance relationships. Submissions should aim to include correlative multiscale characterization of the topics of interest below.

Topics of phenomena, extreme environments, or techniques of interest:

- Materials degradation in extreme environments: Irradiation damage, creep, oxidation, wear, tribo-corrosion, and high-temperature degradation.

- Corrosion and environmentally assisted degradation: Localized corrosion, passivity breakdown, electrochemical reactions, stress corrosion cracking, corrosion fatigue, hydrogen embrittlement, liquid metal embrittlement, and related coupled degradation mechanisms.

- Microstructure and deformation evolution: Deformation mechanisms, dislocation behavior, twinning, phase transformations, strain localization, fatigue crack initiation and growth, fracture, and damage accumulation.

- Advanced and multimodal characterization: In situ/operando mechanical, thermal, electrochemical, and environmental testing integrated with microscopy, spectroscopy, diffraction, tomography, and serial sectioning.

- Three-dimensional and nanoscale interface characterization: Quantitative analysis of grain boundaries, precipitates, segregation, passive films, oxide scales, interfacial phenomena, and 3D/4D damage evolution.

- Characterization-enabled materials design: Advanced characterization to accelerate the development and optimization of structural materials, including high and medium-entropy alloys, additive-manufactured materials, multiphase alloys, composites, and architected materials.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review

Keywords: correlative characterization, in situ/operando, materials degradation, extreme environments, corrosion, hydrogen embrittlement, structure-property-performance, multiscale characterization

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.