This indispensable work is the fifth in a series of international conferences devoted to advanced materials and processing. The conferences, which are held every three years, are jointly sponsored by the Chinese Society for Metals (CSM), the Japan Institute of Metals (JIM), the Korean Institute of Metals and Materials (KIM), and the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS), and organized by them in rotation. The purpose of this international conference, PRICM, is to provide a forum for the exchange of technical and scientific information, which is always of great benefit to researchers, manufacuturers and end-users.The proceedings comprise 988 papers from 20 symposia, and the main topics covered are: Structural Materials, Functional Materials, Materials Processing and Characterization. The five-volume set is further divided into carefully targeted sections: Advanced Ferrous Alloys & Processing; Light Metals; Intermetallics & High-Temperature Alloys; Composite Materials; Advanced Ceramics; Advanced Nuclear Materials; Layered and Graded Materials; Combustion Synthesis; Electronic Materials; Smart Materials & Systems; Magnetic Materials; Biomaterials; Hydrogen-Absorbing Materials; Advanced Melt Processing, Casting & Joining; Spray Forming & Rapid Prototyping; Superplasticity & Superplastic Forming; Modeling and Simulation of Materials and Processes; Amorphous, Quasicrystalline and Nanocrystalline Materials; Thin-Film Materials & Processing; Grain Boundary, Interface & Surface Engineering; Materials Characterization & Evaluation. Altogether, the set offers an incomparable wealth of up-to-date information concerning this whole field.