Created in 1975, "LMT-Cachan" is a joint laboratory "ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan, Pierre & Marie Curie (Paris 6) University" and the French Research Council "CNRS" (Department of Engineering Sciences).

The Year 2000 marked the 25th anniversary of LMT. On this occasion, a series of lectures was organized in Cachan in September-October, 2000. This publication contains peer-reviewed proceedings of these lectures and is aimed to present engineers and scientists with an overview of the latest developments in the field of damage mechanics. The formulation of damage models and their identification procedures were discussed for a variety of materials.