Hierarchical structure is a hallmark of many biological materials that naturally originate from their growth process, which starts with the biosynthesis of molecular building blocks that self-assemble into larger units. Compartmentalization is used to locally control the synthesis and self-assembly and, thus bridge multiple length scales between the atomistic and macroscopic worlds. Multiscalar structures have the advantage that different physical properties may be adjusted at various structural levels. In particular, when these properties are conflicting, the result can lead to exceptional multifunctional materials. The fiber is a ubiquitous structural motif of biological materials, although its biochemical basis can be diverse. While fibers perform well under tension, they do not under compression. Biological materials are also adaptive and possess self-repair capabilities—properties that require the transport of matter and information. This requires networks of transport and communication that are also hierarchically organized to conciliate the conflicting goals of maximum accessibility and minimal perforation of the material volume. Several examples are discussed in this article.

This article focuses on four topics that demonstrate the importance of atom probe tomography for obtaining nanostructural information that provides deep insights into the structures of metallic alloys, leading to a better understanding of their properties. First, we discuss the microstructure–coercivity relationship of Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets, essential for developing a higher coercivity magnet. Second, we address equilibrium segregation at grain boundaries with the aim of manipulating their interfacial structure, energies, compositions, and properties, thereby enabling beneficial material behavior. Third, recent progress in the search to extend the performance and practicality of the next generation of advanced high-strength steels is discussed. Finally, a study of the temporal evolution of a Ni-Al-Cr alloy through the stages of nucleation, growth, and coarsening (Ostwald ripening) and its relationship with the predictions of a model for quasi-stationary coarsening is described. This information is critical for understanding high-temperature mechanical properties of the material.

Aluminum alloys are in high demand for additive manufacturing (AM) processing. However, the physical properties of Al alloys are less favorable for the production of repeatable and reliable parts, with factors such as surface oxide scales, high thermal conductivity, and large solidification shrinkage. Despite these characteristics, processing strategies have been developed to overcome these hurdles. The objective of this article is to highlight the different microstructure–processing–properties characteristics for the three main families of aluminum alloys: pure, casting, and wrought chemistries. The article focuses on AM processes involving solidification, including powder bed and direct energy deposition for both powder and wire feedstock.

Crystallization is a key process in materials science, and most materials are made by processes that involve crystallization. Crystallization starts with nucleation, a process that is poorly understood for two reasons. First, nucleation occurs in contact with the typically uncharacterized surface of an impurity in the system. Second, we typically have little direct data on the microscopic mechanism of nucleation. We have a theory called classical nucleation, but when a simple application of the theory disagrees with experiment, it is unclear whether the theory is wrong, or if some feature of the surface is missing from the model. This article briefly reviews recent work on nucleation and its mechanisms. We are not alone in working with a stochastic process whose underlying mechanism is poorly understood. Engineers often have this problem and have developed powerful statistical models for stochastic processes. Surprisingly, even though they are sometimes used by materials scientists in different contexts, these are not used to model and predict nucleation behavior. We could advance the field with their use.

Block copolymers (BCPs) microphase-separate to form periodic patterns with periods of a few nanometers and above without the need for lithographic guidance. These self-assembled nanostructures have a variety of bulk geometries, including alternating lamellae, gyroids, arrays of cylinders or spheres, tiling patterns and core–shell structures, depending on the molecular architecture of the polymer and the volume fraction of its blocks. Non-bulk morphologies can be produced, the ordering of the microdomains can be improved, and their locations can be directed using various templates and processing strategies. The blocks themselves can constitute a functional material, such as a photonic crystal, or they can be used as a mask to pattern other functional materials, functionalized directly by various chemical approaches, or used as a scaffold to assemble nanoparticles or other nanostructures. BCPs offer tremendous flexibility in creating nanostructured materials with a range of applications in microelectronics, photovoltaics, filtration membranes, and other devices.

The well-known synthetic versatility of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) is rooted in the ability to predict the metal-ion coordination geometry and the vast possibilities to use organic chemistry to modify the linker groups. However, the use of molecules occupying the pores as a component of framework design has been largely ignored. Recent reports show that the presence of these so-called “guests” can have dramatic effects, even when they are a seemingly innocuous species such as water or polar solvents. We term these guests “non-innocent” when their presence alters the MOF in such a way as to create a new material with properties different from the MOF without the guests. Advantages of using guest molecules to impart new properties to MOFs include the relative ease of introducing new functionalities, the ability to modify the material properties at will by removing the guest or inserting different ones, and avoidance of the difficulties associated with synthesizing new frameworks, which can be challenging even when the basic topology remains constant. In this article, we describe the “Guest@MOF” concept and provide examples illustrating its potential as a new MOF design element.

Over the last two decades, three-dimensional (3D) imaging by transmission electron microscopy or “electron tomography” has evolved into a powerful tool to investigate a variety of nanomaterials in different fields, such as life sciences, chemistry, solid-state physics, and materials science. Most of these results were obtained with nanometer-scale resolution, but different approaches have recently pushed the resolution to the atomic level. Such information is a prerequisite to understand the specific relationship between the atomic structure and the physicochemical properties of (nano)materials. We provide an overview of the latest progress in the field of atomic-resolution electron tomography. Different imaging and reconstruction approaches are presented, and state-of-the-art results are discussed. This article demonstrates the power and importance of electron tomography with atomic-scale resolution.

Multijunction solar cells have proven to be capable of extremely high efficiencies by combining multiple semiconductor materials with bandgaps tuned to the solar spectrum. Reaching the optimum set of semiconductors often requires combining high-quality materials with different lattice constants into a single device, a challenge particularly suited for metamorphic epitaxy. In this article, we describe different approaches to metamorphic multijunction solar cells, including traditional upright metamorphic, state-of-the-art inverted metamorphic, and forward-looking multijunction designs on silicon. We also describe the underlying materials science of graded buffers that enables metamorphic subcells with low dislocation densities. Following nearly two decades of research, recent efforts have demonstrated high-quality lattice-mismatched multijunction solar cells with very little performance loss related to the mismatch, enabling solar-to-electric conversion efficiencies over 45%.

Local crystal structure, crystal orientation, and crystal deformation can all be probed by Laue diffraction using a submicron x-ray beam. This technique, employed at a synchrotron facility, is particularly suitable for fast mapping the mechanical and microstructural properties of inhomogeneous multiphase polycrystalline samples, as well as imperfect epitaxial films or crystals. As synchrotron Laue x-ray microdiffraction enters its 20th year of existence and new synchrotron nanoprobe facilities are being built and commissioned around the world, we take the opportunity to overview current capabilities as well as the latest technical developments. Fast data collection provided by state-of-the-art area detectors and fully automated pattern indexing algorithms optimized for speed make it possible to map large portions of a sample with fine step size and obtain quantitative images of its microstructure in near real time. We extrapolate how the technique is anticipated to evolve in the near future and its potential emerging applications at a free-electron laser facility.

The remarkable properties of nanotwinned (NT) face-centered-cubic (fcc) metals arise directly from twin boundaries, the structures of which can be initially determined by growth twinning during the deposition process. Understanding the synthesis process and its relation to the resulting microstructure, and ultimately to material properties, is key to understanding and utilizing these materials. This article presents recent studies on electrodeposition and sputtering methods that produce a high density of nanoscale growth twins in fcc metals. Nanoscale growth twins tend to form spontaneously in monolithic and alloyed fcc metals with lower stacking-fault energies, while engineered approaches are necessary for fcc metals with higher stacking-fault energies. Growth defects and other microstructural features that influence nanotwin behavior and stability are introduced here, and future challenges in fabricating NT materials are highlighted.

Ultrafast laser processing can be used to realize various morphological surface transformations, ranging from direct contour shaping to large-area-surface functionalization via the generation of “self-ordered” micro- and nanostructures as well as their hierarchical hybrids. Irradiation with high-intensity laser pulses excites materials into extreme conditions, which then return to equilibrium through these unique surface transformations. In combination with suitable top-down or bottom-up manufacturing strategies, such laser-tailored surface morphologies open up new avenues toward the control of optical, chemical, and mechanical surface properties, featuring various technical applications especially in the fields of photovoltaics, tribology, and medicine. This article reviews recent efforts in the fundamental understanding of the formation of laser-induced surface micro- and nanostructures and discusses some of their emerging capabilities.

The goal of the Materials Genome Initiative is to substantially reduce the time and cost of materials design and deployment. Achieving this goal requires taking advantage of the recent advances in data and information sciences. This critical need has impelled the emergence of a new discipline, called materials data science and informatics. This emerging new discipline not only has to address the core scientific/technological challenges related to datafication of materials science and engineering, but also, a number of equally important challenges around data-driven transformation of the current culture, practices, and workflows employed for materials innovation. A comprehensive effort that addresses both of these aspects in a synergistic manner is likely to succeed in realizing the vision of scaled-up materials innovation. Key toolsets needed for the successful adoption of materials data science and informatics in materials innovation are identified and discussed in this article. Prototypical examples of emerging novel toolsets and their functionality are described along with select case studies.

The study of microstructure–property relationships and processing history leading to those relationships is at the core of materials engineering. The historical evolution of the understanding of processing–microstructure–property relationships has largely relied on empirical evidence that, in turn, has helped catalyze theories iteratively linking modeling to experiments, which has then helped the maturation process of materials design. While the power of modeling methods has increased, we have, as of yet, no unified mathematical formalism to seamlessly connect materials chemistry with kinetics and micro- and mesoscale information despite decades of work. In this article, we provide an overview of how “microstructural informatics” permits one to capture the interaction between processing variables and their influence on microstructure–chemistry–property correlations. This includes a particular focus on the use of manifold representations and data compression methods for defining microstructure–chemistry–property relationships that can explain known materials behavior and aid in designing new processing pathways of materials with enhanced properties. The concept of identifying an irreducible representation of microstructure is introduced.

Dark-field x-ray microscopy is a new way to three-dimensionally map lattice strain and orientation in crystalline matter. It is analogous to dark-field electron microscopy in that an objective lens magnifies diffracting features of the sample; however, the use of high-energy synchrotron x-rays means that these features can be large, deeply embedded, and fully mapped in seconds to minutes. Simple reconfiguration of the x-ray objective lens allows intuitive zooming between different scales down to a spatial and angular resolution of 100 nm and 0.001°, respectively. Three applications of the technique are presented—mapping the evolution of subgrains during the processing of plastically deformed aluminum, mapping domains and strain fields in ferroelectric crystals, and the three-dimensional mapping of strain fields around individual dislocations. This ability to directly characterize complex, multiscale phenomena in situ is a key step toward formulating and validating multiscale models that account for the entire heterogeneity of materials.

This article overviews electron-beam melting (EBM), including process optimization issues. Examples of EBM-fabricated components described include hexagonal close-packed Ti-6Al-4V, face-centered-cubic René 142 (a Ni-based superalloy), and body-centered-cubic pure iron, corresponding to a melt temperature range from 1375°C to 1630°C. Residual microstructures observed for these fabricated components by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy include equilibrium as well as nonequilibrium features, which illustrate prospects for novel structure–property manipulation in the EBM process. The EBM process relies on available pre-alloyed, precursor powders that are selectively melted layer by layer by a computer-aided design scanned electron beam to form relatively small, but often complex, products or components. Direct metal deposition innovations capable of truly three-dimensional metal printing are described, especially high-temperature metals and alloys for future additive manufacturing technologies.

Hierarchical design down to the nanoscale has become possible in structural composite materials with the discovery of carbon nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene. Composites that simultaneously combine microscopic continuous fibers and nanoscale reinforcements are known in the field as hierarchical or nanoengineered composites. The additional reinforcement at the nanoscale promises high-performance composites with unique combinations of mechanical properties and new functionalities. Here, we review advances in fiber-reinforced polymers modified with CNTs. Three routes for integration of CNTs in composites are discussed: deposition on fibers/plies, dispersion in the matrix, and assembly into fibers. We highlight opportunities and challenges focusing on mechanical performance and processing.