A decade by no means decadent!

If the adage that ‘time passes quickly when you’re enjoying yourself’ applies, I must have been enjoying life tremendously over the past ten years. I find it hard to believe that so much time has passed since I wrote my first editorial for MST, yet the evidence is all there: twelve issues per annum for ten years plus another 300 pages or so of online publication in January 2011 to help cater for a large over-subscription of high quality papers. We also undertook the digitisation of Materials Science (Journal) in 2010. Below, I shall make some reference to other highlights of the decade, but first, I remind you, as in 2011, that it is January, named after the Roman God Janus who had two faces so that he could look both forwards and backwards. From this January onwards we are expanding our ability to look backwards by proceeding with the digitisation of Metals Technology. A descendant of both the Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute and the Journal of the Institute of Metals, Metals Technology ran for 11 volumes as a monthly publication, from 1974 to 1984, before merging with Metal Science to form the present incarnation, Materials Science and Technology. The contents of all these volumes are now available online as part of the MST archive.

As its title suggests, Metals Technology was, to quote, ‘concerned with the broad field of applied metallurgy and metals technology as it affects industrial metals, alloys, and allied materials’. The journal received strong guidance from an Editorial Board, initially headed by Robin Nicholson. The Board included David West and Jim Charles whose contributions continued to influence the development of MST. There is much of value in the 132 issues now made available in digital format. The journal published regular theme issues on a range of topics in which MST continues to have a strong interest: topics such as ‘Microstructure control during rolling and forming’ and, in another, former era of rising energy costs, ‘Improved process efficiency’. I have personal memories of, and contributed to, a special double issue in March/April 1982 on the overall theme of ‘Defects and crack initiation in environment-sensitive fracture’. The October 1984 issue on trace elements in superalloys, guest edited by Malcolm McLean and Andrew Strang, was notable as the first in a series on the properties and processing of superalloys that continued into the early years of MST and spawned a book series on alloys for high temperature service. The February 2009 issue of MST dedicated to Malcolm’s memory (Malcolm McLean Memorial Symposium: ‘The superalloys: from processing to performance’) continues the tradition and is a splendid collection of papers describing the latest research in superalloys.

It was the amalgamation of Metals Technology with Metal Science to form Materials Science and Technology that defined our culture: to cover the spectrum from materials processing, through characterisation of microstructure, to the understanding of properties.

My enjoyment of life over the last decade has been largely due to the fact that so many other people have been working hard to maintain the success of the journal: the Associate Editors; the Editorial Board; Mark Hull and his team in Carlton House Terrace; and, in particular, John Martin, who, ably assisted by Ted Little, has run our refereeing system for the whole time that I have been Editor, and for some years before that. John is a former Goldsmiths’ Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Oxford, and has appropriately applied a ‘gold standard’ to all that comes before his eye: providing a ‘hallmark’ for the quality of the papers published in the journal. To everyone, I wish to say a great big ‘Thank You’: also to Professor Ron Armstrong, from the University of Maryland, who, out of the goodness of his heart and a passion for the underlying science involved, has borne the responsibility for two issues: one on ‘Energetic materials’ in April 2006, the other, published in September–October 2012, on ‘Hardness across the multi-scales of structure and loading rate’. There have, from time to time, been changes in the membership of the Editorial Board, although some, notably Geoff Greenwood, have been members for longer than I have been Editor. I would like to note in particular the contributions of Harry Bhadeshia, who has shown continued interest in the wellbeing of the journal. The transcript of his Hatfield lecture eulogising nanostructured bainite, ‘Large chunks of very strong steel’,1 was a tour de force, not least for causing NASA to rethink its views on the structural possibilities of carbon nanotubes. Harry’s two-part review with Philip Withers on residual stress2,3 is one of our most cited articles.

The team of Associate Editors has, until now, been unchanged, but Professor Valerie Randle has just taken the decision to retire ‘properly’, both from her university post and from MST. We extend our very best wishes to her for the future, but will miss the many contributions that she has made over the years, particularly in seeking out papers on scanning electron microscopy and EBSD (electron back-scatter diffraction) analysis of microstructure: I would also like to pay due recognition to her Perspective (one of a series published to mark MST’s twenty-fifth anniversary) on ‘Grain boundary engineering’ in the March 2010 issue.4

She will be replaced by Professor Philippa Reed, who has been a member of the Editorial Board for several years and who was responsible for organising the meeting on the influence of environment and creep on high temperature fatigue, which produced a thematic issue in 2007.5

I had thought about listing some highlights of the last ten years in annual succession, but found this too difficult to do, because we have had so many good articles: cutting-edge research papers, authoritative reviews, perspectives, and a number of excellent Literature Review Prize submissions. I have already made mention of some theme issues, and there have been many others: including those on Stress evaluation with neutrons and synchrotron radiation stress analysis (January 2005), martensitic transformations (August 2008) and X-ray tomography (September 2006) following from conferences, organised by Phil Withers; the China–Denmark issue in 2005 on ‘Deformation structures: evolution and properties’ put together by Andy Horsewell and Wolfgang Pantleon; and the issues commissioned by Devesh Misra on polymer nanocomposites (July 2006) and biomaterials (September 2008) – all illustrating the solid efforts put in by the Associate Editors. Two others that I mention, just to illustrate the range of topics covered, are the July 2008 issue on ‘High resolution chemical mapping’ organised by Alfred Cerezo and (the late) David Cockayne, and that in September 2009 on ‘Microalloyed steels’ edited by Eric Palmiere (and Claire Davis).

‘Reviews’ provide comprehensive and authoritative surveys of a particular field written by acknowledged experts. For ‘perspectives’ we encourage the author, again a recognised expert, to give his or her particular ‘take’ on the subject; perhaps to be a little more speculative or contentious than might be the form for a review. To illustrate the difference, I draw attention to three reviews, which all happen to have won the Cook–Ablett Award from IOM3, awarded annually for published work of particular merit in the field of metals. The reviews are:6^–8

E. A. Little: ‘Development of radiation resistant materials for advanced nuclear power plant’

H. Mughrabi: ‘Microstructural aspects of high temperature deformation of monocrystalline nickel base superalloys: some open problems’ (in the Maclean special issue

N. Hansen and D. Juul Jensen: ‘Deformed metals – structure, recrystallisation and strength’.

Each of these provides a fully comprehensive review of its subject area, enabling the MST readership to access up-to-date knowledge and understanding. In contrast, take three perspectives:9^–11

R. Grimes: ‘Superplastic forming: evolution from metallurgical curiosity to major manufacturing tool?’

J. Campbell: ‘Entrainment defects’

L. M. Brown ‘Constant intermittent flow of dislocations: central problems in plasticity’.

Each of these has been written by an internationally recognised expert, outlining the issues in clear form, but challenging preconceived ideas. The first two deal with aspects of processing. Roger Grimes explains why super plastic forming, perhaps ‘hyped-up’ ten years ago, may not have the future generally expected (proving correct in his prognostications). John Campbell focuses on the importance of the entrainment of aluminium oxide ‘bifilms’, produced in the casting of aluminium alloys (and, to some extent, other alloys containing significant amounts of aluminium), with respect to mechanical properties in wrought products subsequently produced from these castings. Mick Brown has developed radically new concepts relating to slip-bands in plastic deformation. All three are encouraging readers to think about the subject and we strongly encourage written contributions from those who might provide supporting evidence or who might have evidence to contradict the views put forward by the authors. I introduced this concept in my first editorial ten years ago: in general, it has not been widely taken up (except on the topic of entrained films), but, in the November 2012 issue there are sets of comments and responses in three different areas.12^–14

We have also published a number of very good reviews, emanating from the Literature Review Prize competition. The format for this has now settled into a clear routine. Initial abstracts are reviewed by the judging panel (the Editor, two or three Associate Editors and Ted Little) and a selected handful of candidates is then asked to submit a first full-length draft. The drafts are read by the panel and the candidates are invited to attend a ‘Master-class’, at which they give short presentations on the main points of their reviews and receive detailed feedback from members of the panel. They then have time to revise their drafts for final submission. The system works well and we have received many favourable comments from those who have been through the process. The winning review and other commended entries are subsequently published in the journal subject to normal refereeing procedures. The published reviews again give coverage of topics with which the general MST reader may be unfamiliar and hence provide a means by which a quick ‘up-date’ can be acquired. The range is broad: from defects in semi-conductors,15 though fuel cells16 and solar cells,17 to aspects of welding of titanium,18 gear-boxes in wind turbines19 and grain refinement in aluminium alloys.20 The reviews are all of high quality and we hope that the authors will, in time, submit papers based on their research to the journal.

In my first paragraph, I made reference to Janus who, with two faces, was able to look both backwards and forwards. In the succeeding paragraphs, I have looked backwards to recall some of the excellent articles that have given such enjoyment over the past decade in MST, and before that, in Metals Technology. There is, however, enormous pleasure to be had in the forward look: in the anticipation of splendid things to come. I am confident that these will appear issue by issue and that I will be continuing to enjoy life tremendously in the future, just as for the past ten years.

John Knott

Editor