Composite materials have already found use in aircraft structural design for several decades. Now, introducing functionality allows new capability to be incorporated into the structure, for example, in sensing, self-healing, energy harvesting and storage.

Photo by Jerry Zhang on Unsplash

The science and technology of composite materials has never been more important a research topic. The demands and requirements of composite materials to meet the many societal, environmental and engineering challenges for the twenty-first century and beyond are significant.

Functional composite materials will play a major and wide-ranging role in addressing these challenges, whether it is solutions to address the negative aspects of climate change, for light-weighting and components for the electrification of all forms of transport, for the generation and storage of energy to sustainable composite materials for applications in construction, food packaging and space exploration.

Materials discovery continues unabated and the growth and application of new materials provides a cornucopia of starting materials such that the number of composite materials possible having a range of functionalities is limitless.

Recognizing the importance and potential of functionality for the development of the next generation composite materials, the editor with Springer engaged with the leading researchers in the field, many now members of the editorial board.

Without exception, all realized there was an absence in the field for a journal where it was mandatory the functionality of the composite material be, described in the manuscript.

Examples include, but are not limited to, electrical and thermal conductivity/insulation; thermoelectric; magnetic; optical; shape memory; ferroelectric; energy storage; phase change and antimicrobial.

Functional Composite Materials is an interdisciplinary journal focusing on fundamental and applied aspects of composite materials spanning chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, manufacturing, modelling, theory and materials, interpreted in the broadest sense.

The key requirement for publication is that the concept of functionality must be clearly demonstrated. Functional Composite Materials will publish review articles, communications, original research articles and thematic collections.

As Functional Composite Materials is a fully open access journal, authors will benefit from their papers receiving unrestricted access around the world, as well as retaining copyright under a Creative Commons licence.

This Editorial was initially published in Functional Composite Materials. Read the launch articles by clicking the links below:

Thermoelectric composite with enhanced figure of merit via interfacial doping
Michael J. Adams and Joseph P. Heremans

Fused deposition modelling (FDM) of composites of graphene nanoplatelets and polymers for high thermal conductivity: a mini-review
Valentina Guerra, Chaoying Wan and Tony McNally

3D printing of high performance polymerbonded PEEK-NdFeB magnetic composite materials
Lucia Pigliaru, Marianna Rinaldi, Leonardo Ciccacci, Andrew Norman, Thomas Rohr, Tommaso Ghidini and Francesca Nanni