The book contains the discussion of some important aspects of localization and fracture phenomena in inelastic solids (single crystals, polycrystalline solids and geological materials). Physical and experimental foundations of crystal plasticity are given. Constitutive modelling of dissipative solids for description of localization and fracture is presented. Various regularization methods for solution of the initial-boundary value problems are outlined. Numerical solutions based on finite element method of practicular evolution problems with localization of plastic deformation are considered.

This book resulted from a series of lecture notes presented in CISM, Udine in July 7 -11, 2008. The papers inform about recent advances in continuum damage mechanics for both metals and metal matrix composites as well as the micromechanics of localization in inelastic solids. Also many of the different constitutive damage models that have recently appeared in the literature and the different approaches to this topic are presented, making them easily accessible to researchers and graduate students in civil engineering, mechanical engineering, engineering mechanics, aerospace engineering, and material science.

This book contains thirty peer-reviewed papers that are based on the presentations made at the symposium on "Damage Mechanics in Engineering Materials" on the occasion of the Joint ASME/ASCE/SES Mechanics Conference (McNU97), held in Evanston, Illinois, June 28-July 2, 1997. The key area of discussion was on the constitutive modeling of damage mechanics in engineering materials encompassing the following topics: macromechanics/micromechanical constitutive modeling, experimental procedures, numerical modeling, inelastic behavior, interfaces, damage, fracture, failure, computational methods. The book is divided into six parts: Study of damage mechanics. Localization and damage. Damage in brittle materials. Damage in metals and metal matrix composites. Computational aspects of damage models. Damage in polymers and elastomers.

The IUT AM Symposium on "Micromechanics of Plasticity and Damage of Multiphase Materials" was held in Sevres, Paris, France, 29 August - 1 September 1995. The Symposium was attended by 83 persons from 18 countries. In addition 17 young French students attended the meeting. During the 4 day meeting, a total of 55 papers were presented, including 24 papers in the poster sessions. The meeting was divided into 7 oral and 3 poster sessions. The 7 oral sessions were the following: - Plasticity and Viscoplasticity I and II; - Phase transformations; - Damage I and II; - Statistical and geometrical aspects; - Cracks and interfaces. Each poster session was introduced by a Rapporteur, as follows: - Session I (Plasticity and Viscoplasticity): G. Cailletaud; - Session 2 (Damage): D. Franc;:ois; - Session 3 (Phase transformation; statistical and geometrical aspects): D. Jeulin. The main purpose of the Symposium was the discussion of the state of the art in the development of micromechanical models used to predict the macroscopic mechanical behaviour of mUltiphase solid materials. These materials consist of at least two chemically different phases, present either initially or formed during plastic deformation, when a strain-induced phase transformation takes place. One session was devoted to the latter case. Continuously strengthened composite materials, containing long fibers, were out of the scope of the Symposium.

Many important industrial applications incline toward better understanding of the constitutive properties of matter. Nowadays, the development of measurement possibilities, even in nanoscale, allows for multiscale formulations that drive to the more sophisticated models used in continuum mechanics. These phenomenological models are particularly important and useful for solutions of very concrete initial boundary value problems. Our interests are focused mainly on detailed descriptions of material behavior that depend not only on simple stress-strain relationships but also includes the strong influence of loading type, which introduces temperature, strain rate dependence, fracture, etc. Understanding these physics phenomena is of fundamental importance for successful and responsible computations. In particular, using the popular commercial programs requires deep understanding of constitutive formulations and their restrictions. These lectures are addressed to industrial users who are responsible for making crucial decisions in design, as well as, to young scientists who work on new models that describe the behavior of materials which also account the new influences and reflect the complexity of the material behavior. At the end, let me express my gratitude to the lecturers of the CISM course No. 328 on “Advances in Constitutive Relations Applied in Computer Codes”, held in Udine in July 2007, who finally prepared the included materials. Unfortunately, during the preparation and collecting papers for this book, our friend and colleague Prof. Janusz R. Klepaczko passed away. This is a very big loss for the society of mechanics.

This book contains the most relevant papers presented in the International Conference on Materials Forming, ESAFORM 2005. It gathers selected plenary and keynote papers presented in the conference, offering an up-to-date synthesis of the academic and industrial research in the fields of physical and numerical modeling of materials forming processes.