This paper is part of a special issue on the Advances in Materials and Processing Technologies (AMPT) 2015 and has subsequently been revised and extended before publication in Powder Metallurgy.
The Advances in Materials and Processing Technologies Conference (AMPT) was founded in 1993 at the Dublin City University, Ireland. Since then, the AMPT conferences have been held periodically all over the world moving from Europe to Asia and Oceania.
In 2015 the conference was held in Madrid, Spain at the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid and IMDEA Materials Institute. The conference covered a wide range of topics, including powder metallurgy, materials removal processes, deformation processing, processing of new and advanced materials, welding and joining, surface engineering and other related processes. The 2015 conference was organised in symposia that sought to bring together international experts grouped depending on their expertise.
The symposium ‘New Trends in Powder metallurgy’ aims to cover the highlights of recent progress in high performance materials processed from powders. High performance may be achieved by the powder technology route with a wide range of properties. The success of final behaviour relies on different possibilities, could be strongly dependent on the ability to preserve the nano-features of the starting powder in the consolidated product, could be dependent on the designed alloying system, on novel processing technologies (such as Field-Assisted Sintering Methods, including Spark Plasma Sintering, HIP – hot isostatic pressing, microwave sintering, additive manufacturing) and so on. Powder technology could represent the most favourable option to produce material solutions in a reliable and cost-efficient manner. The symposium was an opportunity for bringing together researchers dealing with structural sintered materials (from sintered steels to materials used in extreme conditions of operation), consolidation techniques, sintering, microstructure characterisation, etc.
This issue of Powder Metallurgy consists of a selection of papers from APMT’2015, presented at the symposium ‘New Trends in Powder Metallurgy’ featuring ongoing research and development conducted across the PM network. This special issue of Powder Metallurgy includes the best oral contributions giving an idea of the items discussed during the symposium. All contributions have been fully revised and extended and refereed according to Powder Metallurgy’s standard review procedures prior to publication.