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The 15th International Conference on the Textures of Materials (ICOTOM)
 ICOTOM 15 Introduction
Texture in this context means crystallographic preferred orientation in polycrystals. Traditionally it has referred to the grains in polycrystals but increasingly it is being extended to other microstructural features such as interfaces. Most properties of materials are anisotropic at the single crystal level, which means that characterization and optimization of texture is of interest both scientifically and for practical applications.
ICOTOM is dedicated to the goal of promoting all aspects of texture research and applications in all kinds of crystalline materials, from metals to rocks to polymers. As examples, the development of experimental and theoretical tools for texture research, the improvement of prediction of texture and anisotropy, the utilization of texture to advance materials science, and the optimization of anisotropic materials properties are all objectives of the texture community and of ICOTOM.
The continuing growth in interest in crystallographic textures is due to the fact that materials anisotropy has become an important issue for the development and optimization of not just structural materials such as steel, magnesium, zirconium, titanium and aluminum alloys but also other applications such as piezoelectric transducers, magnetic materials for data storage, thin film devices of all kinds, high temperature superconductors and so on.
The established texture characterization methods developed largely from investigation of the processing and properties of traditional materials (especially metals) have found increasing application in other areas of materials research. This means that one of the essential functions of the ICOTOM conference is to bring together the various scientific communities that share a common interest in crystallographic textures. Thus the conference aims to enable newcomers to the field to acquaint themselves with state of the art theoretical concepts and sophisticated experimental techniques developed over many years of texture research.
At the same time, the traditional texture community is broadened by acquiring a deeper insight into new and exciting fields of modern materials science and technology. Also there is now the realization that many microstructural features, such as grain boundaries and interfaces in general, exhibit textures that affect properties in an important way. New techniques such as advanced stereologies, serial sectioning technologies and direct 3D characterization are changing the texture field in exciting ways.
The conference series looks back on a history of over 30 years. As has transpired in many disciplines of science, a small group of scientists working independently and more or less on isolated issues related to texture and anisotropy of materials in the 1960’s felt the need to exchange information and ideas on how to tackle the mutually interesting, scientifically challenging experimental and theoretical approaches of texture measurement and evaluation, and a first meeting was held in Clausthal, Germany in 1969.
The success of this first meeting prompted successive conferences in Cracow, Poland (1971), Pont-à-Mousson, France (1973), and Cambridge, England (1975), which were mainly attended by European scientists. The name ICOTOM was first introduced at the fifth meeting in Aachen, Germany (1978), which had a truly international character with delegates from 20 countries worldwide.
Successive ICOTOMs were held at 3 year intervals in Tokyo, Japan (1981), Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands (1984), Santa Fe, USA (1987), Avignon, France (1990), Clausthal, Germany (1993), Xian, China (1996), Montreal, Canada (1999), Seoul, Korea (2002), and Leuven, Belgium (2005). Attendance at the meetings has grown to more than 300.
In summary, the conference series on textures, ICOTOM, serves a steadily broadening community and aims to extend our understanding and the application of texture studies to the entire range of materials.
Updated 14th June, 2007, A.D. Rollett.
A.D. (Tony) Rollett, |
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