Journal of Materials Science - The William Bonfield Prize for Best Review Paper
The Journal of Materials Science is pleased to present the William Bonfield Prize for Best Review Paper, in honor of Professor William Bonfield’s immeasurable contributions to both the Journal of Materials Science and the field of Materials Research more broadly: An annual award presented by the journal since Spring 2022, to recognize and reward the distinctive review papers that make such an important contribution to the journal and the Materials Science community. As with its sister prize, the Robert W. Cahn Prize for best original paper (this opens in a new tab), the recipients of the William Bonfield Prize jointly receive an award of $5,000.
The 2023 William Bonfield Prize
The winner of the 2023 William Bonfield Best Review Paper Prize is:
Cement hydration mechanisms through time – a review (this opens in a new tab)
By Elisabeth John & Barbara Lothenbach
(Pictured above)
"We are honored to receive the 2024 William Bonfield Best Review Paper Award in recognition of our comprehensive review article about the history of cement hydration mechanisms. We extend our sincere appreciation to the editors and the esteemed editorial board of the Journal of Materials Science for awarding our work.
"The cement industry stands as a significant contributor to CO2 emissions, a reality prompting urgent calls for greener practices. Cement, a complex system in its composition and production, presents a formidable challenge in our quest for sustainability. Despite decades of study and advancement, the mechanism behind cement hydration, the fundamental process governing its strength and durability, remains elusive. Understanding this intricate process is crucial for developing eco-friendly alternatives and mitigating the environmental impact of this indispensable material.
"Our review article explores the historic path that the research regarding the mechanism of cement hydration has come along. Throughout time the development of new hypothesis was often strongly linked to interdisciplinary input and the advancement of analytical techniques. We aimed to illuminate the factors that propelled research forward which often included the rejection of the currently prevailing theories. To date the research concerning the mechanism of cement hydration still poses a field of research with fascinating unresolved questions and holds great relevance amidst current global challenges."
The winning article was selected by Professor Bonfield himself from over 100 review articles published in the Journal of Materials Science in 2023.
The Journal of Materials Science would also like to recognize three Honorable Mentions:
A review on carbon dots as innovative materials for advancing biomedical applications: synthesis, opportunities, and challenges (this opens in a new tab)
By Ahmed Barhoum, Amin Meftahi, Mahshad Sadat Kashef Sabery, Mohammad Ehsan Momeni Heravi & Farzaneh Alem
A review on biopolymer-based treatments for consolidation and surface protection of cultural heritage materials (this opens in a new tab)
By Maria Rita Caruso, Giulia D’Agostino, Stefana Milioto, Giuseppe Cavallaro & Giuseppe Lazzara
A review of superwetting membranes and nanofibers for efficient oil/water separation (this opens in a new tab)
By Xinhui Mao, Yanxin Wang, Xianhang Yan, Zhenzhen Huang, Zhiyuan Gao, Yuxuan Wang, Linjun Huang, Matt J. Kipper & Jianguo Tang
About Professor William Bonfield
Professor William Bonfield, pictured above, served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Materials Science from 1973-2002. During his long tenure, he saw the journal grow dramatically, from publishing four issues per year to two per month, and helping to broaden the scope of the journal from Metallurgy to Materials Science. He also helped oversee the launch of JMS’s spin-off journal titles: Letters, Materials in Electronics, and Materials in Medicine.
Outside of his work on the journal, Professor Bonfield is Emeritus Professor of Medical Materials at the University of Cambridge. He is internationally recognized for his pioneering research contributions to the field of Biomaterials through awards including the Royal Academy of Engineering Prince Philip Gold Medal, the Kelvin Medal, the European Society for Biomaterials George Winter Award, the UK Society for Biomaterials President’s Prize, and many more. He is also the founder of the companies ApaTech Ltd. and OrthoMimetics Ltd., which developed major advances in regenerative medical implants. His contributions have been recognized by his election to all three UK National Academies, namely as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci). He was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by the Queen for his services to healthcare and materials science.
Previous Winners
The 2022 William Bonfield Prize
The winner of the 2022 William Bonfield Best Review Paper Prize is:
Review of advanced techniques for manufacturing biocomposites: non-destructive evaluation and artificial intelligence-assisted modeling (this opens in a new tab)
By J. Preethikaharshini, K. Naresh, G. Rajeshkumar, V. Arumugaprabu, Muhammad A. Khan & K. A. Khan (Pictured above)
"As a team, we are honored for receiving the 2022 William Bonfield Best Review Paper Award for our review article about “advanced techniques for manufacturing biocomposites: non-destructive evaluation and artificial intelligence-assisted modeling”. We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to the editors and the editorial board of the Journal of Materials Science, Springer for recognizing our work.
"Our research team has more than one decade of research and development experience in designing, manufacturing, and modeling of natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites (NFRPCs). We have been trying to minimize the overall processing time and enhance the quality of eco-friendly structural components with the Industry 4.0 framework by collaborating with numerous Professors and Researchers worldwide.
"In general, the shape and dimensions of many natural fibers are not uniform, leading to different types of defect formation during different stages of manufacturing. Traditionally, the microstructure of NFRPCs at different manufacturing stages was obtained using destructive techniques with stringent sample size restrictions and may cause a decrease in residual properties of composites due to destructive scanning. However, these complications can be overcome by using non-destructive evaluation (NDE) and artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted modeling. In this review article, we have comprehensively discussed new research directions in the field of NFRPCs related to Industry 4.0, such as additive manufacturing including 4D printing, NDE, robotics, big data, the Internet of things, AI, etc. The importance of AI technology in enhancing the quality of NDE images and minimizing the analysis time through machine learning and deep learning algorithms for generating digital twins are discussed in detail. These details are essential to utilize currently available new technologies for designing and manufacturing high-quality and eco-friendly structural components."
The winning article was selected by Professor Bonfield himself from over 100 review articles published in the Journal of Materials Science in 2022.
The Journal of Materials Science would also like to recognize two Honorable Mentions:
Review: Multi-principal element alloys by additive manufacturing (this opens in a new tab)
By Chenze Li, Michael Ferry, Jamie J. Kruzic & Xiaopeng Li
Review of the use of solid wood as an external cladding material in the built environment (this opens in a new tab)
By Callum Hill, Maija Kymäläinen & Lauri Rautkari
The 2021 William Bonfield Prize
The winner of the Inaugural 2021 William Bonfield Best Review Paper Prize is:
"Laves phases: a review of their functional and structural applications and an improved fundamental understanding of stability and properties" (this opens in a new tab)
By Frank Stein & Andreas Leineweber (Pictured above)
"We are both very honored to have been awarded the inaugural William Bonfield Prize for our review article about Laves phases. This is a great recognition of our work, which makes us very happy.
"We started to work on this very important class of intermetallic phases already more than 15 years ago as part of a large research initiative of the Max Planck Society entitled “The Nature of Laves Phases”. From this very fruitful and successful collaboration, several other projects have emerged, spanning the whole range from very fundamental topics such as stability and structure of this type of phase to application-relevant topics such as its surprising mechanical behavior and its applicability as strengthening phase in high-temperature structural materials. Since, on the one hand, there was so much new information about the basic properties and, on the other hand, we found that this type of phase occurs in so many applied materials, we decided to write this review article that attempts to give a comprehensive overview of this important class of materials."
The Journal of Materials Science would also like to recognize two Honorable Mentions:
"A review on emerging biodegradable polymers for environmentally benign transient electronic skins" (this opens in a new tab)
By Xiao Peng, Kai Dong, Zhiyi Wu, Jie Wang & Zhong Lin Wang
"Nanomaterials with high solar reflectance as an emerging path towards energy-efficient envelope systems: a review" (this opens in a new tab)
By Rita Carvalho Veloso, Andrea Souza, Joana Maia, Nuno Manuel Monteiro Ramos & João Ventura