ICKEM2019 - Hierarchically Structured Materials (HSM)

Dear Colleagues,

The 9th International Conference on Key Engineering Materials (ICKEM 2018) (http://www.ickem.org/) will be held 29 March–1 April, 2019, at Oxford, United Kingdom.

Previous ICKEM meetings were held in Sanya (China), Singapore, Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia), Bali (Indonesia), Singapore, Hong Kong, Penang (Malaysia), and Osaka (Japan), from 2011 to 2018. With the experience of running successful events in the ICKEM series over the past eight years, we are confident that 2019 will witness an even greater success of the 9th edition of ICKEM.

The purpose of The 9th International Conference on Key Engineering Materials is to bring together researchers, engineers and practitioners interested in the whole range of fields related to the materials that underpin modern technologies. Papers presenting original works are invited on the topics listed below.

1. Biomaterials in Different Applications
2. Novel Composite Materials in Vivid Applications
3. Application of Novel Materials in Civil Engineering
4. Advances in Materials and Manufacturing Technology
5. Materials and Technologies in Environmental Engineering
6. Studies on Corrosion, Coating, and Aspects of Chemical Engineering
7. Electrical, Electronic, and Optoelectronic Materials: Synthesis and Applications
8. Trends in the Development of Nanomaterials, Nanocomposites and Nanotechnology

For this edition of the ICKEM meeting, the conference chair, Professor Alexander M. Korsunsky from the University of Oxford, UK, proposed the topic of Hierarchically-Structured Materials (HSM) as the main theme.

Natural and engineered materials that enjoy widespread successful use in highly-demanding applications are distinguished by multi-level hierarchical structuring across scales. Beginning with the chemical elements and molecular building blocks that form a material, inherent properties are determined using the intricate composite architectures found at the nano- and micro-scales, which govern macroscopic properties and performance.

A number of simulation frameworks have been put forward in order to model the material structure and behavior at each length scale under consideration. Similarly, a variety of techniques have been elaborated for experimental characterization and testing, with sensitivity and resolution appropriate for each length scale involved. While this view of multi-scale materials modelling and characterization is widely accepted and used, there are a number of conceptual, theoretical, and applied challenges that remain unresolved, e.g., rigorous definition of distinct structural scale, robust approach to the validation of multi-scale modelling frameworks, etc. In an attempt to advance our understanding in these areas, the special issue will focus on Hierarchically-Structured Materials (HSM), in which specific research results will be included and examined in the light of the framework outlined above. This volume will be consisted of contributions to this overarching theme from the conference chair, Professor Alexander M. Korsunsky, and his collaborators.

Prof. Alexander M. Korsunsky
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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