Epidemiological studies have shown that the incidence, prevalence and mortality of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) are increasing globally. Atherosclerosis is characterized as a chronic inflammatory disease which involves inflammation and immune dysfunction. P. lactiflora Pall. is a plant origin traditional medicine that has been widely used for the treatment of various diseases for more than a millennium in China, Japan and Korean. Paeoniflorin is a bioactive monomer extracted from P. lactiflora Pall. with anti-atherosclerosis effects. In this article, we comprehensively reviewed the potential therapeutic effects and molecular mechanism whereby paeoniflorin protects against atherosclerosis from the unique angle of inflammation and immune-related pathway dysfunction in vascular endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, monocytes, macrophages, platelets and mast cells. Paeoniflorin, with multiple protective effects in atherosclerosis, has the potential to be used as a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of atherosclerosis and its complications. We conclude with a detailed discussion of the challenges and future perspective of paeoniflorin in translational cardiovascular medicine.

Dealloying, a famous ancient etching technique, was used to produce nanoporous metals decades ago. With the development of dealloying techniques and theories, various interesting dealloying products including nanoporous metals/alloys, metal oxides and composites, which exhibit excellent catalytic, optical and sensing performance, have been developed in recent years. As a result, the research on dealloying products is of great importance for developing new materials with superior physical and chemical properties. In this paper, typical dealloying products from Cu-based metallic glasses after dealloying in hydrofluoric acid and hydrochloric acid solutions are summarized. Several potential application fields of these dealloying products are discussed. A promising application of nanoporous Cu (NPC) and NPC-contained composites related to the energy storage field is introduced. It is expected that more promising dealloying products could be developed for practical energy storage applications.

Mg-based metallic glasses (MGs) are widely studied due to their high elasticity and high strength originating from their amorphous nature. However, their further application in many potential fields is limited by poor corrosion resistance. In order to improve this property, an MgO nanoplate array layer is first constructed on the surface of Mg-based MGs by cyclic voltammetry (CV) treatments. In this situation, the corrosion resistance and hydrophilicity of the material are enhanced. Then, stearic acid (SA) can effectively adhere onto the surface of the MgO layer to form a superficial hydrophobic film with a water contact angle (WCA) of 131°. As a result, the SA coated MgO hydrophobic film improves the corrosion resistance of Mg-based MGs in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution obviously. In addition, the effects of four technological parameters (solution concentration, sweep rate, cycle number, and reaction temperature) in the CV process on the morphology and size of nano-products are investigated in detail. The work proposes a new method for the creation of nanostructures on the surface of materials and provides a new idea to increase the corrosion resistance of MGs. The related method is expected to be applied in wider fields in future.

In this study, we investigated the high strain rate response of Mg-6wt%Er alloys with 1wt%Zn addition by split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) tests in a range of 900–2500 s⁻¹. Their related microstructures were also characterized by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron back-scattering diffraction (EBSD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In particular, the twinning and stacking faults (SFs) in Mg-6Er and Mg-6Er-1Zn alloys are characterized, and the interactions between twin/SFs and dislocations are analyzed in detail. Compared with twins, the dispersed and dense SFs seem to more readily interact with dislocations, resulting in the enhancement of the strength of alloys. Especially at a high strain rate of 1450 s⁻¹, dislocations are prone to tangle around the twins and SFs, forming low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs). The addition of Zn in Mg-6Er can make LAGBs more easily transform into high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) due to the existence of SFs.

The caliber rolling was applied to Mg-9Li-1Al (LA91) alloy to develop high-performance Mg-Li alloys. The results demonstrate that caliber rolling promotes a continuous transformation of the α-Mg phase into the β-Li phase. As the rolling reduction increases, the strength of the alloy initially rises, reaching a peak before subsequently declining. The initial increase in strength is primarily attributed to grain boundary strengthening, dislocation strengthening, and texture strengthening mechanisms. The LA91 alloy achieves its maximum strength at a 65% rolling reduction, exhibiting a tensile yield strength of 266 MPa, an ultimate tensile strength of 324 MPa, and an elongation of 22%, which beyond those reported in most comparable studies. However, when the rolling reduction exceeds 65%, the excessive formation of the soft β-Li phase leads to a significant decrease in strength. Additionally, caliber rolling also reduces the tensile-compressive asymmetry of as-extruded LA91 alloy as well.

In this paper, pre-extrusion treatment was applied to AZ80 alloy prior to caliber rolling, and microstructural evolution as well as mechanical properties of groove-rolled AZ80 alloy were studied. The results shown that the pre-deformation treatment can enhance the formability of AZ80 alloy and the cracking can be avoided. In addition, the pre-extrusion also resulted in fine grain structure after rolling process. Especially, 8-pass caliber rolling following by pre-extrusion of AZ80 alloy shown uniform and fine dynamic recrystallized (DRX) structure. Besides, the introduction of pre-deformation also promotes more second phases during caliber rolling. Therefore, the mechanical properties shown that the yield strength (TYS), tensile strength (UTS) and elongation after fracture (El.) of pre-extruded AZ80 caliber-rolled bars are 250 MPa, 440 MPa and 15%, respectively, which increased by 72%, 37%, and 88% compared with their as-cast counterparts. The improvement of mechanical properties is attributed to synergy effects of grain refinement, second precipitates strengthening and texture optimization.