Interest in the phenomenon of superplasticity has been increasing steadily over the past two decades, both with regard to promoting fundamental scientific understanding as well as commercial application. Most of the early studies on superplasticity dealt with microduplex metallic alloys. The unabated interest in, and scientific research on, superplasticity has now broadened the scope of the topic to include intermetallic compounds, ceramics, composites and nanocrystalline materials.

The book presents practical and theoretical works on superplasticity in metals and ceramics, on deformation mechanisms, on processes to obtain large ultrafine-grained structures, on advanced characterization techniques, and on hot deformation of advanced materials. Key papers focus on (1) processing of metallic alloys for achieving exceptional superplastic properties, (2) high-pressure sliding (HPS) processes, (3) in-situ neutron and synchrotron methods, and (4) ultra-severe plastic deformation. Keywords: Superplasticity, Superfunctionality, High-pressure Sliding, High-pressure Torsion, Precise Forming, Numerical Simulation, Aeronautical Parts, Near-unconstrained Superplastic Parts, Low-temperature Superplasticity, Friction Stir Processing, Microstructure Evolution, Corrosion Properties, Duplex Stainless Steel, Grain Boundary Sliding, Laminated Materials, Asymmetric Hot Rolling, Uniaxial Hot Pressing, Diffusion Bonding.

Superplastic forming (SPF) has come a long way from its relatively recent history of being of interest only to the aerospace and aeronautical industries, and has made rapid inroads into applications in the automotive, rail, architectural, sports, dental and entertainment sectors. This book comprises 82 papers which describe in detail the latest developments in the field. All aspects of the subject are covered, ranging from the atomistic simulation of grain-boundary sliding to the industrial-scale application of superplasticity and of diffusion bonding. This volume therefore represents an invaluable guide to the state-of-the-art in this field.

Superplasticity is the ability of polycrystalline materials under certain conditions to exhibit extreme tensile elongation in a nearly homogeneous/isotropic manner. Historically, this phenomenon was discovered and systematically studied by metallurgists and physicists. They, along with practising engineers, used materials in the superplastic state for materials forming applications. Metallurgists concluded that they had the necessary information on superplasticity and so theoretical studies focussed mostly on understanding the physical and metallurgi cal properties of superplastic materials. Practical applications, in contrast, were led by empirical approaches, rules of thumb and creative design. It has become clear that mathematical models of superplastic deformation as well as analyses for metal working processes that exploit the superplastic state are not adequate. A systematic approach based on the methods of mechanics of solids is likely to prove useful in improving the situation. The present book aims at the following. 1. Outline briefly the techniques of mechanics of solids, particularly as it applies to strain rate sensitive materials. 2. Assess the present level of investigations on the mechanical behaviour of superplastics. 3. Formulate the main issues and challenges in mechanics ofsuperplasticity. 4. Analyse the mathematical models/constitutive equations for superplastic flow from the viewpoint of mechanics. 5. Review the models of superplastic metal working processes. 6. Indicate with examples new results that may be obtained using the methods of mechanics of solids.

While the superplastic phenomenon was first demonstrated in scientific experiments conducted in the United Kingdom, much of the early systematic work in this area was performed in Russia. This volume covers the recent developments concerning superplastictity phenomena in many materials classes of current interest.

Selected, peer reviewed papers from the 12th International Conference on Superplasticity in Advanced Materials (ICSAM 2015), September 7-11, 2015, Tokyo, Japan