In this study, copper powders with dendritic morphology were produced by the electrolysis method, and then silver coating was applied to these powders by an electroless coating method. The bulk samples were fabricated by hot pressing method using different ratios of copper and silver-plated copper powders. The results showed that the electroless silver coating layer provided a strong bond at the particle boundaries of the samples, significantly improving the physical and mechanical properties of the materials. Accordingly, the hardness, tensile strength, electrical and thermal conductivity values of the samples produced from silver-plated dendritic copper particles were determined to be approximately 98 HB, 185 MPa, 102 IACS% and 402 W mK⁻¹, respectively. In addition, the oxidation resistance of the sample produced from completely silver-coated copper powders is 4 times higher than that of pure copper.

Steel alloys are one of the most used engineering material classes due to their superior properties such as yield and tensile strength, good thermal conductivity, machinability, formability, ductility, magnetic properties, and recyclability. In addition to its advantages, steel suffers from two main factors that limit its use, namely wear and corrosion. Wear and corrosion, separately or in combination, cause a material loss in steel, resulting in increased costs in industrial production. However, with appropriate surface treatments, wear and corrosion of steels can be prevented or kept to a minimum. Corrosion and wear resistances provided by appropriate methods have the potential to reduce costs and also expand the set of suitable materials that designers can choose from. In this study, brief information about steel is given and then preventive applications against wear and corrosion of steel materials are examined. Definitions were made about surface treatments such as hot-dip coatings, electrochemical coatings, electroless coatings, thermochemical surface treatments, sol-gel coatings, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), thermal spray coatings, physical vapor deposition (PVD), and the effects of surface treatments on the wear and corrosion properties of steels were investigated. In addition, the effects of some process parameters of surface treatments and post-treatments such as heat treatment on corrosion and wear behavior are presented.

Depending on the feedstock type and the pyrolysis conditions, biochars exhibit different physical, chemical, and structural properties, which highly influence their performance in various applications. This study presents a comprehensive characterization of biochar materials derived from the waste wood of pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and beech (Fagus sylvatica) after low-temperature pyrolysis at 270 °C, followed by chemical activation using zinc chloride. The resulting materials were thoroughly analyzed in terms of their chemical composition (FTIR), thermal behavior (TGA/DTG), structural morphology (SEM and XRD), elemental analysis, and particle size distribution. The successful modification of raw biomass into carbon-rich structures of increased aromaticity and thermal stability was confirmed. Particle size analysis revealed that the activated carbon of Fagus sylvatica (FSAC) exhibited a monomodal distribution, indicating high homogeneity, whereas Pinus sylvestris-activated carbon showed a distinct bimodal distribution. This heterogeneity was supported by elemental analysis, revealing a higher inorganic content in pine-activated carbon, likely contributing to its dimensional instability during activation. These findings suggest that the uniform morphology of beech-activated carbon may be advantageous in filtration and adsorption applications, while pine-activated carbon’s heterogeneous structure could be beneficial for multifunctional systems requiring variable pore architectures. Overall, this study underscored the potential of chemically activated biochar from lignocellulosic residues for customized applications in environmental and material science domains.