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.