This book groups the main advances in material forming, considering different p- cesses (conventional and non-conventional) focusing in polymers, composites and metals, that are analyzed from the state of the art, describing the most significant recent advances and identifying the present challenges from the experimental, modeling and numerical points of view. Chapters include a large list of references and have been wr- ten by recognized specialists. Special emphasis is devoted to the contributions of the European Scientific Association on Material Forming (ESAFORM) during the last 10 years (1998-2007) and in particular the ones coming from its annual international conference. The first chapter includes an excellent introduction to the Esaform association (please visit www.esaform.org for further information). We hope that this book will be valuable for all the readers, and it is specially addr- sed to young researchers trying to define the state of the art or identifying the open p- blems in the different areas covered by this book.
