Acta Materialia and its companion journal Scripta Materialia are international Journals for the Science and Engineering of Materials. Acta Materialia's purpose is to publish original papers and occasional critical reviews which advance the understanding of the structural and functional properties of materials: metals and alloys, ceramics, high polymers and glasses. Emphasis is placed on those aspects of the science of materials that are concerned with the relationship between the structure of solids and their properties (mechanical, chemical, electrical, magnetic and optical); with the thermodynamics, kinetics and mechanisms of processes occurring within solids; with experiments and models which help in understanding the macroscopic properties of materials in terms of microscopic mechanisms; and with original work which advances the understanding of structural and functional materials.