Development of multifunctional lightweight cellular metals through interdisciplinary efforts

In spite of her phenomenal economic achievement since the historically im-perative implementation of the “open door” policy in 1978, China as a whole remains in the middle stage of industri-alization, faced with fresh challenges from energy resources and environment protection. The issue becomes even more acute in view of the current economic and financial crisis worldwide, with a signifi-cant proportion of Chinese companies equipped largely with primitive or low- level technologies losing business or go-ing bankrupt. Without speedy advance-ment of new sciences and technologies by Chinese scientists and engineers to help Chinese companies overturn the economic tide, there can be no sustained rapid de-velopment of the Chinese economy. Hence a new road to industrialization should be exploited, featured by innova-tive technologies, good economic returns, low energy resources consumption, and less environmental pollution. To this end there is a pressing call for lightweight high-performance materials such as the emerging cellular metallic materials of high porosity.