Innovations in materials and design have been increasingly adopted in all types of sportswear, sports equipment and facilities. This special issue will present a timely collection of the latest developments in the design, processing, characterization, and performance evaluation of polymers, metals & alloys, ceramics, and composites for in sports technology.

Papers for this Virtual Special Issue will be based on the selected presentations at the 2nd International Conference in Sports Science & Technology (ICSST), to be held on 12-13 December 2016 in Singapore. ICSST 2016 is organised by the Institute for Sports Research (ISR), an international collaboration between Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore and Loughborough University (LU), UK. The conference will offer a great opportunity for researchers, engineers, and managers in the field of sports research and development to present their latest advancements in materials product technology for sports, and sports science.

We welcome abstract submissions for this forthcoming conference. More details of the conference are available at http://www.icsst.sg/. After the conference, selected authors whose presentation lie within the scope and aims of the journal will be invited to submit a full length original paper to be considered for inclusion in this Virtual Special Issue via peer-review for publication in Materials & Design. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

  • Protective materials and technology: impact absorbing materials and structures, e.g. helmets, body armours, braces, shin guards, etc.
  • Protective surface and coatings with UV resistant, anti-fogging, anti-slip, self-cleaning, ice-phobic properties, etc.
  • Materials for sportswear: shoes, apparels, backpacks, accessories, etc.
  • Equipment in sports: bikes, golf accessories, boards, racquets, bats, balls…
  • Sports facilities: pitches, fields, playgrounds, artificial turf, etc.
  • Computational analysis and design of sports materials and structures
  • Speciality materials: lightweight, porous, transparent, etc.
  • Smart materials for sports: sensing and environment-responsive materials and devices.

Please visit the ICSST 2016 website http://www.icsst.sg/ to submit an abstract. The deadline for abstract submission is 15 June 2016.

Guest editor biographies:

Prof. Aravind Dasari is an Assistant Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research platform is on polymers and their composites. Using this platform, he is actively investigating various facets of these materials like combustion, gas barrier, mechanical and acoustic behaviors. He is an author/co-author of more than 65 peer-reviewed international journal papers with h-index of 34 to-date (according to Google Scholar).

Prof. Zhong Chen is currently Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He specializes in coatings & engineered nanostructures for clean energy, environmental, microelectronic, and other functional surface applications. He has served as an editor / editorial board member for 8 academic journals. He is an author of over 200 peer-reviewed journal publications and 6 international patents. According to Google Scholar, his papers have received over 5700 citations with h-index of 38.

Prof. Weimin Huang is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Mechanicals and Aerospace Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has over 20 years of experience on various shape memory materials and technologies. He is an author/co-author of over 170 peer-reviewed journal publications and two books about thin film shape memory alloys and shape memory polymers. According to ResearchID, his papers have received over 4300 citations with h-index of 34.

Prof. Alexander M. Korsunsky is currently Professor of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Trinity College. He is a leading expert in the use of X-rays, neutrons, electron and ion beams and mechanical probes for engineering microscopy of materials and structures, and the optimisation of design, durability and performance. He heads Multi-Beam Laboratory for Engineering Microscopy (MBLEM) at Oxford, and the Centre for In situ Processing Science (CIPS) at Research Complex at Harwell. He consults Rolls-Royce plc on residual stress and structural integrity. Alexander M. Korsunsky is Editor-in-Chief of Materials & Design.

Dr. Tan Sui is currently Postdoctoral Researcher under EU FP7 collaborative research project iSTRESS on FIB-DIC residual stress analysis at the micro-nano-scale. She is Visiting Staff member at the Research Complex at Harwell, and College Tutor in Engineering Science at St Anne’s College, Oxford. Her research interests concern microstructural characterization and multi-scale modelling of thermo-mechanical behaviour of hierarchically structured materials and tissues using multi-modal X-ray techniques (Diffraction, Imaging and Spectroscopy), as well as multi-beam microscopy techniques (FIB, SEM, EDX, EBSD, STEM and TOF-SIMS). Tan Sui is Managing Editor of Materials & Design.