Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters CPCI-S (WoS). The main focuses collection of 184 peer reviewed papers was to cover all aspects of materials, including advanced and functional materials, composites and applications, green and biomaterials, smart and intelligent materials and structures, processing and engineering of materials, natural and synthetic fiber composites and materials for specific applications. The papers are grouped as follows: I. Advanced Composites and their Applications; II. Bio-materials and Biomimetic Materials; III. Intelligent Processing of Materials and Structures; IV. Nano-Materials, -Sensors and –Actuators; V. Engineering and Structural Materials; VI. Smart Materials and Structures; VII. Tribology (Surface Engineering); VIII. Materials for Fuel Cells and Solar Cells; IX. Natural Fiber Composites; X. Synthetic Fiber Composites; XI. Construction and Building Materials; XII. Soft Materials; XIII. Functional Materials; XIV. Materials Processing, Modeling and Technology; XV. Green Materials; XVI. Others.

Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters CPCI-S (WoS). Smart Materials are materials that can respond to environmental stimuli by exhibiting particular changes in some of their properties. Depending upon the change in some external condition, a smart materials can change its own characteristics (mechanical, electrical, appearance), structure, composition and/or response. These materials are usually embedded into systems whose inherent properties change favourably in order to meet performance needs.

Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters CPCI-S (WoS). It has become a essential but formidable task for all industries to concentrate on developing Nature-friendly products and services. The present work aims to bring together the current knowledge concerning Nature-friendly multi-functional materials and structures. The contributions concentrate on natural fiber composites, smart materials and structures, and advanced composites and their applications, and so on. Readers will find within the most up-to-date advances in the field of multi-functional materials and structures.

This issue contains 25 invited and contributed papers, all peer reviewed according to the American Ceramic Society Review Process. The latest developments in processing and manufacturing technologies are covered, including green manufacturing, smart processing, advanced composite manufacturing, rapid processing, joining, machining, and net shape forming technologies. These papers discuss the most important aspects necessary for understanding and further development of processing and manufacturing of ceramic materials and systems.

In order to achieve the revolutionary new defense capabilities offered by materials science and engineering, innovative management to reduce the risks associated with translating research results will be needed along with the R&D. While payoff is expected to be high from the promising areas of materials research, many of the benefits are likely to be evolutionary. Nevertheless, failure to invest in more speculative areas of research could lead to undesired technological surprises. Basic research in physics, chemistry, biology, and materials science will provide the seeds for potentially revolutionary technologies later in the 21st century.

With the rapid development of science and technology, the functionalization of structural materials, and the structurization of functional materials are attracting increasing attention in the scientific and engineering fields. The development of multi-functional materials and structures (MFMS), at the micro- and nano-scale levels, has grown rapidly due to the requirement of increasing safety margins for all infrastructure, biomedical and engineering elements. Multi-functional material systems are capable of performing multiple “primary” functions, simultaneously or sequentially in time, and are specially designed to improve system performance via a reduction in the redundancy between sub-system materials and functions.

Volume is indexed by Thomson Reuters CPCI-S (WoS). This volume comprises papers presented at the 2011 International Conference on Multi-Functional Materials and Structures Engineering (ICMMSE2011), June 11-12, 2011, Suzhou, China. The aim was to provide a platform where researchers, engineers, academics and industrial professionals from all over the world could present their research results and development activities in the fields of multi-functional materials and structures engineering. The result is an eminently up-to-date guide to these topics.