EditorialThe 13th International Conference on Material Forming

Also this year, as it happens since 1998, the ESAFORM Conference is organized in one of the European Countries. The number of participants and of presented papers, during these years, were continuously growing attracting scientists and researchers not only from Europe, but also from outside Countries such as USA, China, India, Japan and much more. This confirms that ESAFORM, through its annual Conference, stimulates applied and basic research in the field of production and material forming and represents a fundamental meeting event where ESAFORM members and other participants coming from both academy and industry can exchange their knowledge and experiences. This year the 13th ESAFORM Conference on Material Forming is organized by a joined effort of the Universities of Brescia and Bergamo and it is held at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Brescia, Italy, from the 7th to the 9th of April 2010. The successful series of annual ESAFORM Conferences previously organized demonstrates the effectiveness of the addressed research topics characterizing the mini-symposia in which the Conference is structured. The continuous updating of the mini-symposia topics and the efforts spent by their coordinators and organizers, assure that the investigated subjects are the latest research developments in the fields of material forming and production. The present Conference is structured with 20 mini-symposia and it has collected 343 abstracts and 291 final papers for oral presentations. Two plenary lectures have been chosen with particular regards to forming and casting which are the most developed and diffused processes of the industries of our region. The research results were presented in seven parallel sessions along the three days of the Conference. The addressed topics range from metallic to polymeric and composite materials, from plastic deformation to injection molding and casting, from bulk to sheet forming and cutting processes, from material characterization to process modeling and inverse analysis. Also very innovative processes such as semisolid, incremental forming, hydroforming, microforming, friction stir welding and non-conventional ones have been analyzed. A special emphasis was given to light weight design and energy efficiency in metal forming fulfilling the world attention to energy saving, environment and improvement of the life quality. The good standards of the Conference have been guaranteed by the reviewing process carried out by the mini-symposia coordinators and organizers who reviewed both the submitted abstracts and papers giving to the authors suggestions and improvements. Concluding, the organizers would like to thank all the authors for submitting their papers, all the mini-symposia coordinators and organizers for their efforts in asking for and reviewing these papers, all the organization staff and all the people who gave their contribution for the success of the 13th ESAFORM Conference.