1. Background of This Book

A Japanese national project to develop technologies for multi-materialization was launched in October 2013, to reduce significantly the weight of transportation equipment. The Innovative Structural Materials Association (ISMA) was established as an organization to promote the project of “Research and Development of Innovative Structural Materials” for a period of 10 years, and was disbanded in March 2023 after demonstrating a 50% weight reduction of automobile bodies through innovative technologies. In this project, world-leading innovative results were achieved in a total of seven fields, ranging from the development of innovative materials, analytical evaluation technology to ensure material reliability, computational science to guide material performance, joining technologies necessary for manufacturing, design technology essential for product realization, and the recycling and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). “Innovative Structural Materials for Multi-Materialization” is designed to pass on the science and technology to the next generation of engineers and researchers for further development. The main results of this project are introduced with a brief description of the basic knowledge of each field so that readers unfamiliar with this field can understand materials research. We also expect that it will be used as a reference in various fields as a precedent for multi-materialization in the future.