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Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters BCI (WoS).
All components and mechanical parts have surfaces which are either exposed to a particular environment or are in contact with other components. Consequent corrosion and/or wear of the surface may then lead to destructive failure. A so-called “bad” surface is a favoured spot for crack initiation, resulting in a decrease in the fatigue, tensile properties and even toughness of materials. Although the development of new materials can improve the surface properties, this can also lead to a change in the properties of the substrate. For example, increasing the carbon content significantly improves the wear resistance of steels, but toughness has to be sacrificed. Increased cost is another major concern. Moreover, for some components, such as gears, a ductile substrate and a hard surface are required. In this case, surface treatment remains the only choice. Surface modification, also termed surface treatment, has thus been recognised as being a major emergent manufacturing technology for improving the surface properties, with minimal alteration of the substrate. The purpose of this special volume on surface engineering is to provide an overview of the most popular modern surface-treatment technologies for structural materials, and thus enable materials scientists and engineers to select suitable techniques for their research and manufacturing needs. It comprises reports of cutting-edge research results and reviews of the most recent developments in the use of a particular technique. The topics covered include thin-film coating, laser surface technologies, surface nanotechnologies, anodizing, electroplating, electroless plating, thermal spraying and cold spraying.
The volume will thus constitute a veritable handbook on surface treatment.

Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters BCI (WoS).
Composite materials are increasingly finding use in diverse applications requiring a wide range of property and performance requirements. Low density, high specific strength and stiffness are the main features that make composite materials most suitable for structural applications. The field covers the concurrent manipulation of the material’s composition and of the internal architecture of the composite in order to obtain the desired properties. The ability to tailor composite materials precisely is of great importance in structural applications. A systematic approach to the optimum tailoring of composite materials is a challenging design problem. The focus should be on the practical design aspects, and that is what is addressed in this special-topic volume. The design of structural composites requires that a balance be struck between processing technology, mechanical testing and numerical simulation, in order to obtain the optimum weight-strength-stiffness combination for a given application and industrial requirement. A variety of manufacturing processes and tests exist by which to characterize the mechanical properties of assorted models. Despite the complexity of composite structures and the diverse possibilities offered by the materials, this special-topic volume shows that certain techniques and rules can always be used to evaluate their behaviour and choose their structure.
Included in this volume are nine articles on polymer-matrix composites, three articles on metal-matrix composites and one article on polymer composite-grid-reinforced concrete. These articles cover all of the aspects described above. The knowledge gained by the attentive reader can be used to design better composites having improved mechanical properties.