This book offers a snapshot of recent developments in improving the properties and performance of engineering materials and structures. It discusses modeling properties related to classical mechanical, thermal, electrical and optical fields as well as those related to surface-specific quantities (e.g. roughness, wear and modifications due to surface coatings). The material types presented range from classical metals and synthetic materials to composites. Competitiveness due to cost efficiency (e.g. lighter structures and the corresponding fuel savings for transportation systems) and sustainability (e.g. recyclability or reusability) are the driving factors for engineering developments. The outcomes of these efforts are difficult to be accurately monitored due to the ongoing evaluation cycles.

Andreas Öchsner is a professor at the School of Engineering, Griffith University, Australia and leader of the Mechanical Engineering Program (Head of Discipline and Program Director). Having obtained a Dipl.-Ing. degree in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Stuttgart (1997), Germany, he served as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg from 1997 to 2003 while working to complete his Doctor of Engineering Sciences (Dr.-Ing.) degree. From 2003 to 2006, he was an assistant professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and head of the Cellular Metals Group affiliated with the University of Aveiro, Portugal. He spent seven years (2007-2013) as a professor at the Department of Applied Mechanics, Technical University of Malaysia, where he was also head of the Advanced Materials and Structures Lab.

Holm Altenbach is a professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany. Having obtained a diploma degree (1980) and a doctoral degree (1983) at Leningrad Polytechnic, he received the Facultas docendi in Engineering Mechanics in Magdeburg. In 1987 he obtained his Doctor of Engineering Sciences (Dr.-Ing.habil.) degree from Leningrad Polytechnic. From 1987 up to 1995 he worked as a lecturer at Magdeburg University's Institute of Material Science at. During this period he was invited as a visiting professor to the National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute" (Kharkiv, Ukraine) and the University of Technology Bratislava (Slovakia) and the Technical University Riga (Latvia). In 1996 he was appointed as professor of engineering mechanics at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. He was awarded a Krupp fellowship (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany), a Gold Medal by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Politechnika Lubelska (Lublin, Poland) and Dr.h.c. by the National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute" (Kharkiv, Ukraine). He has presented over 320 lectures at national and international conferences and published 320 scientific publications including monographs, textbooks and proceedings. He has organized three Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) courses in Udine, Italy and is the editor-in-chief of the "Zeitschrift für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik" (ZAMM, founded 1921) ("Journal of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics"), and advisory editor of Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics.