Irreversible climate change, including atmosphere temperature extremes, is one of the most important issues of the present time. In this context, the construction industry requires solutions for increasing the energy efficiency of buildings through feedback between temperature adjustment inside buildings and better isolation of the external parts of buildings. Newly developed thermal insulation materials play an important role in this strategy. This paper presents the foamed geopolymer based on metakaolin that can be used as a modern facade material. In order to further improve its thermal insulation properties, the composition of geopolymer was modified with organic substances, i.e., perlite and cellulose fibers (30% and 50% of the volume). The thermal conductivity and insulation properties, density, mineral phases, absorbability, and compressive strength were improved for composite materials. It has been shown that the final properties of the foamed geopolymer can be controlled to a great extent by modifications, and the final properties determine its applicability.

Due to the absence of thermodynamic data concerning the Ag–Mg–Ti system in the existing literature, this study aims to fill this gap by offering the outcomes of calorimetric investigations conducted on ternary liquid solutions of these alloys. The measurements were performed using the drop calorimetry method at temperatures of 1294 K and 1297 K for the liquid solutions with the following constant mole fraction ratio: x_Ag/x_Mg = 9/1, 7/3, 1/1, 3/7 [(Ag_0.9Mg_0.1)_1−xTi_x, (Ag_0.7Mg_0.3)_1−xTi_x, (Ag_0.5Mg_0.5)_1−xTi_x, (Ag_0.3Mg_0.7)_1−xTi_x)], and x_Ag/x_Ti = 19/1 [(Ag_0.95Ti_0.05)_1−xMg_x]. The results show that the mixing enthalpy change is characterized by negative deviations from the ideal solutions and the observed minimal value equals −13.444 kJ/mol for the Ag_0.95Ti_0.05 alloy and x_Mg = 0.4182. Next, based on the thermodynamic properties of binary systems described by the Redlich–Kister model and the determined experimental data from the calorimetric measurements, the ternary optimized parameters for the Ag–Mg–Ti liquid phase were calculated by the Muggianu model. Homemade software (TerGexHm 1.0) was used to optimize the calorimetric data using the least squares method. Next, the partial and molar thermodynamic functions were calculated and are presented in the tables and figures. Moreover, this work presents, for comparative purposes, the values of the enthalpy of mixing of liquid Ag–Mg–Ti alloys, which were calculated using Toop’s model. It was found that the best agreement between the modeled and experimental data was observed for the cross-sections x_Ag/x_Ti = 19/1 [(Ag_0.95Ti_0.05)_1−xMg_x] and x_Ag/x_Mg = 9/1 [(Ag_0.9Mg_0.1)_1−xTi_x]. The results of the experiments presented in this paper are the first step in the investigation and future evaluation of the thermodynamics of phases and the calculation of the phase diagram of the silver–magnesium–titanium system.

The development of bioabsorbable implants from Zn alloys is one of the main interests in the new generation of biomaterials. The main drawbacks of Zn-based materials are their insufficient mechanical properties. In the presented studies, a quaternary alloy composed of zinc with magnesium (0.2–1 wt. %), calcium (0.1–0.5 wt. %) and strontium (0.05–0.5 wt. %) was prepared by gravity casting followed by hot extrusion and then by hydrostatic extrusion. Microstructural characterization using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) phase analysis was performed. The mechanical properties were examined, using static tensile tests. Corrosion properties were analyzed using immersion tests. Samples were immersed in Hanks’ solution (temperature = 37 °C, pH = 7.4) for 14 days. All alloys were subjected after corrosion to SEM observations on the surface and cross-section. The corrosion rate was also calculated. The microstructure of the investigated quaternary alloy consists of the α-Zn grains and intermetallic phases Mg2Zn11, CaZn13 and SrZn13 with different grain sizes and distribution, which impacted both mechanical and corrosion properties. Thanks to the alloying by the addition of Mg, Ca, and Sr and plastic deformation using hydrostatic extrusion, outstanding mechanical properties were obtained along with improvement in uniformity of corrosion rate.

Alloys from the Ag-Ti system are extremely promising and offer the possibility of versatile applications owing to their attractive properties. However, due to the experimental difficulties caused, among others, by the significant difference in melting points of the components, most of the information on the thermodynamic properties available in the literature has been obtained by computer methods. Therefore, the main aim of this work is to extend the current knowledge about the experimentally determined thermodynamic properties of selected alloys from the Ag-Ti system. Within the scope of this work, calorimetric studies were carried out using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and high-temperature drop calorimetry measurements. The first of the aforementioned methods was used to determine the characteristic temperature of the Ag_0.43Ti_0.57 alloy synthesized by mechanical alloying. Using titanium hydride instead of titanium for the preparation of alloys from the Ag-Ti system has not yet been reported in the literature. This paper presents a complete structural characterization (SEM, XRD studies) of the above alloy produced by this method. The second technique was applied to ascertain the mixing enthalpy change in the alloys in the composition range between x_Ti = 0.02–0.226, and for the measurements of the formation enthalpy of the AgTi intermetallic phase. Based on the calorimetric results obtained in this study, along with the relevant thermodynamic data from the literature, the Ag-Ti phase diagram was reoptimized.

Since there is limited information available in the literature about the thermodynamic properties of the Cu-Mg-Ti system, this work aims to determine the mixing enthalpy change for several liquid alloys from this system. To achieve the intended purpose, the applied methods were divided into two stages. The first one covered a high-temperature calorimetric measurement of the enthalpy of mixing performed at 1123–1402 K for liquid solutions in six measurement series (A–F). The obtained experimental results indicate that the liquid solutions are characterized by negative deviations from ideal solutions across the whole measured concentration range. The second stage of the study includes thermodynamic modeling. At first, based on the calorimetrically obtained experimental data and thermodynamic properties of the binary systems described by the Redlich–Kister model, a set of ternary optimized parameters for the Cu-Mg-Ti system were calculated. Then, for the calculation of the mixing enthalpy change, two models were used—the symmetrical Muggianu model and the asymmetrical Toop model. This study complements the information available in the literature and the obtained results aim to fill the gap in the current knowledge on thermodynamic properties.