This book contains the fully peer-reviewed papers presented at the Third Engineering Foundation Conference on Small Fatigue Cracks, held under the chairmanship of K.S. Ravichandran and Y. Murakami during December 6-11, 1998, at the Turtle Bay Hilton, Oahu, Hawaii. This book presents a state-of-the-art description of the mechanics, mechanisms and applications of small fatigue cracks by most of the world's leading experts in this field. Topics ranging from the mechanisms of crack initiation, small crack behavior in metallic, intermetallic, ceramic and composite materials, experimental measurement, mechanistic and theoretical models, to the role of small cracks in fretting fatigue and the application of small crack results to the aging aircraft and high-cycle fatigue problems, are covered.

The importance of the nanoscale effects has been recognized in materials research for over fifty years, but it is only recently that advanced characterization and fabrication methods are enabling scientists to build structures atom-by-atom or molecule-by molecule. The understanding and control of the nanostructure has been, to a large extent, made possible by new atomistic analysis and characterization methods pioneered by transmission electron microscopy. "Nano and Microstructural Design of Advanced Materials" focuses on the effective use of such advanced analysis and characterization techniques in the design of materials.
* Teaches effective use of advanced analysis and characterization methods at an atomistic level.
* Contains many supporting examples of materials in which such design concepts have been successfully applied.