Technological progress and discovery and mastery of increasingly sophisticated
structural materials have been inexorably tied together since the dawn
of history. In the present era — the so-called Space Age —-, the prevailing
trend is to design and create new materials, or improved existing ones, by
meticulously altering and controlling structural features that span across all
types of length scales: the ultimate aim is to achieve macroscopic proper-
ties (yield strength, ductility, toughness, fatigue limit . . . ) tailored to given
practical applications. Research efforts in this aspect range in complexity
from the creation of structures at the scale of single atoms and molecules —
the realm of nanotechnology —, to the more mundane, to the average civil
and mechanical engineers, development of structural materials by changing
the composition, distribution, size and topology of their constituents at the
microscopic/mesoscopic level (composite materials and porous metals, for
instance).
Abstract
Technological progress and discovery and mastery of increasingly sophisticated
structural materials have been inexorably tied together since the dawn
of history. In the present era — the so-called Space Age —-, the prevailing
trend is to design and create [...]