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Antonio P. Novaes de OliveiraAntónio Sérgio PouzadaArlindo J. SilvaArmando SilvestreArtur J. S. MateusAugusto Barata da RochaAugusto LimaAugusto MoutinhoBelmira F. NetoBenilde F. CostaBenilde SaramagoBernardo AlmeidaC. T. SunCaetano MonteiroCarlos NogueiraCarlos PinhoCarlos Sá FurtadoCarlos Silva RibeiroCaroline BaillieCeleste PereiraCésar A. SequeiraCharles DrummondChris R. BowenDelfim SoaresDulce RodriguesE. L. SollaÉder T. G. CavalheiroF. A. Costa OliveiraF. M. Braz FernandesF. W. van HattumFernanda MargaridoFernando Jorge PinaFernando M. MarquesFernando Moura DuarteFilipe M. Texeira-DiasFilomena VianaFrancisco G. SilvaFrancisco M. Pires

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Francisco SerbenaG. P. KothiyalGeoff GibsonGraça VasconcelosGuilherme LavaredaH. R. BaharvandiHelena GilHenrique M. SantosHerman MansurHugo Manuel ÁguasHumberto VarumIgor GalaevInês FonsecaIoana DemetrescuIsabel M. SalvadoIsabel Mercês FerreiraJ. A. S. CavaleiroJ. Brito CorreiaJ. M. Brochado OliveiraJ. Machado da SilvaJ. Pamies TeixeiraJ. Paulo DavimJoanna RyszkowskaJoão A. LabrinchaJoão C. Moura BordadoJoão OliveiraJoão Paulo RodriguesJoão Pedro AraújoJoão Salvador FernandesJoão TavaresJoaquim BarrosJoaquim GabrielJoaquim L. FariaJorge de BritoJorge H. O. SeabraJosé Barroso AguiarJosé Carlos FonsecaJosé César Sá

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Renato Natal J.Rogério ColaçoRosa MirandaRosa VasconcelosRui A. R. BoaventuraRui IgrejaRui Jorge C. SilvaRui M. AlmeidaRui N. CorreiaRui Oliveira e CostaRui R. F. SilvaRui VilarS. GraçaS. M. YusufSaid JalaliSamrat MukhopadhyaySenen Lanceros-MéndezSusana OlheroTeresa DuarteTeresa M. SeixasTessaleno C. DevezasTito Silva TrindadeTomás da FonsecaV. A. PopovValdemar FernandesValentin BessergenevVasco TeixeiraVictor M. Carneiro FerreiraViviana SilvaVladislav KhartonWislei R. Osório

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Foreword

This special issue of Materials Science Forum is dedicated to a selection of paperspresented at MATERIAIS 2007 - 13th Conference of Sociedade Portuguesa de Materiais,IV International Materials Conference Symposium - A Materials Science Forum: “GlobalMaterials for the XXI Century: Challenges to Academia and Industry”.

From the 600 papers presented at the Conference, 450 remained for the review procedureaccording to Materials Science Forum rules and 200 were finally selected for publication.In this issue, the papers are integrated in chapters according to the type of materials,its application, characterization or simulation. The number of papers per chapter is asfollows:

Chapter 1 - Biomaterials (19 papers)

Chapter 2 - Ceramics (16 papers)

Chapter 3 - Composite Materials (15 papers)

Chapter 4 - Electronic, Magnetic and Photonic Materials (20 papers)

Chapter 5 - Metals and Alloys (17 papers)

Chapter 6 - Nano and Microstructural Materials (12 papers)

Chapter 7 - Polymers (17 papers)

Chapter 8 - Paper, Textiles, Wood and Cork (7 papers)

Chapter 9 - Smart Materials (6 papers)

Chapter 10 - Advances in Materials Characterization (7 papers)

Chapter 11 - Materials and Processing Modelling (9 papers)

Chapter 12 - Recycling (10 papers)

Chapter 13 - Surfaces, Interfaces and Membranes (12 papers)

Chapter 14 - Materials for Civil Engineering Applications (12 papers)

Chapter 15 - Materials for Energy Production, Transport, Storage and Mechanical

Engineering Applications (14 papers)

Chapter 16 - Foresight, Materials and Art, Generic (7 papers)

This Special Issue covers a wide range of Materials and Applications, presenting updatedinformation regarding the challenges for materials, as well as a contribution to a betterunderstanding of materials behaviour and characterization.

The Editors wish to thank all the authors and reviewers for their contributions to thesuccess of this Special Issue.

The Editors

António Torres Marques, António Fernando Silva, António Paulo Monteiro Baptista,Carlos Sá, Fernando Jorge Lino Alves, Luís Filipe Malheiros, Manuel Vieira