Waltraud M. Kriven

Yanchun Zhou

Miladin Radovic

Contributions from three Focused Sessions that were part of the 34th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC), in Daytona Beach, FL, January 24-29, 2010 are presented in this volume. The broad range of topics is captured by the Focused Session titles, which are listed as follows: FS1 - Geopolymers and other Inorganic Polymers; FS3 - Computational Design, Modeling Simulation and Characterization of Ceramics and Composites; and FS4 - Nanolaminated Ternary Carbides and Nitrides (MAX Phases). The session on Geopolymers and other Inorganic Polymers continues to attract growing attention from international researchers (USA, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, and Viet Nam) and it is encouraging to see the variety of established and new applications being found for these novel and potentially useful materials. The session organizer gratefully acknowledges the support of the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) through Dr. Joan Fuller. The AFOSR has continuously supported these conferences since the first meeting in Nashville, TN in 2003. Focused Session 3 was dedicated to design, modeling, simulation and characterization of ceramics and composites. 27 technical papers were presented on prediction of crystal structure and phase stability, characterization of interfaces and grain boundaries at atomic scale, optimization of electrical, optical and mechanical properties, modeling of defects and related properties, design of materials and components at different length scales, application of novel computational methods for processing. Four of these papers are included in this issue of CESP. Focused Session 4 was dedicated to MAX phases - a class of ternary carbides and nitrides with nanolaminated structure and general formula Mn+1AXn (where M is an early transition metal, A is an A-group element from IIIA to VIA, X is either C or N, and n=1, 2, 3 ...). The MAX phases have attracted recently a lot of attention because they possess unique combination of metallic- and ceramic-like properties. In all, 30 technical papers were presented during this session. Four of these papers are included in this issue.

Strategic Materials and Computational Design

Gurpreet Singh

Navin Jose Manjooran

Gary Pickrell

Nitin Chopra

Eugene A. Olevsky

Kathy Lu

Eugene Medvedovski

Chris Li

This book contains 17 papers from the Controlled Processing of Nanoparticle-based Materials and Nanostructured Films; Nanotechnology for Energy, Healthcare, and Industry; and Nanolaminated Ternary Carbides and Nitrides (MAX Phases) symposia held during the 2010 Materials Science and Technology (MS&T'10) meeting, October 17-21, 2010, Houston, Texas. Topics include: Direct Manufacturing; Low Dimension Nanomaterials; Processing and Sintering; Thin Films; Nanolaminated Ternary Carbides and Nitrides (MAX Phases); and Novel Nanomaterial Approaches.

Advances in Nanomaterials and Nanostructures

Miladin Radovic

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