Composite materials have come to play essential roles in various areas of industry and technology during the latter decades of the 20th century. This is due to their excellent performance. In order to exchange innovative ideas and technical information in this area, Chinese scientists on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have met twice since 2000 and 2003. The 3rd Cross-strait Conference on Composite Materials was held on May 7-12, 2003, in Wuhan, China, sponsored by the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). This issue of "Key Engineering Materials" contains a collection of 105 selected papers from this conference. The topics cover major aspects of composite materials, such as metal-matrix composites, ceramic-matrix composites, and polymer-matrix composities. These aspects include advanced synthesis and processing technologies, and state-of-the-art manipulation of microstructure and properties.
