Editorial: the Fourth International Conference on Engineering Failure Analysis

Welcome to this first Special Issue of the Fourth International Conference on Engineering Failure Analysis (ICEFA-4). We are pleased to provide you with a number of selected papers presented at the conference that was held on the 4–7th July 2010 at Churchill College, Cambridge, UK. Sponsored by Elsevier Science and Engineering Failure Analysis, the Conference brought together leading workers in the field of failure analysis, structural integrity and related studies, with delegates attending from around the world. Topics covered in the conference programme covered a wide range of issues in the arena of Engineering Failure Analysis, in addition to considering the legal and ethical obligations of those working in the field. With six keynote presentations, eighty-eight oral and one hundred and six poster presentations embracing a wide range of failure mechanisms and industrial applications, attendance was a record for the ICEFA series to date.On behalf of the scientific and organizing committees, we would like to thank all participants for their contribution to the Conference. In particular we would like to express our thanks to the keynote speakers, session chairs, authors and delegates who all helped to make ICEFA-4 such a success. Particular thanks must also go to Dan Lovegrove, Melissa Blake and Nicola Marsh of Elsevier, whose considerable organizational efforts ensured that the conference was both a smooth running and a rewarding experience for all those taking part.Thank you again and we look forward to seeing you at the Fifth International Conference on Engineering Failure Analysis in 2012.