Editorial

This special issue of the Journal of Thermal Spray Technology (JTST) includes selected papers presented at the 6th Asian Thermal Spray Conference (ATSC 2014) held at Hyderabad, India, November 24-26, 2014. Over the years, the ATSC Conference Series has emerged as a flagship event of the Asian Thermal Spray Society (ATSS) in the Asia-Pacific region, with the previous ATSCs having been held in Japan (twice), Korea, Singapore, and China. This first-ever ATSC to be conducted in India had an overwhelming response, with nearly 300 people representing 14 countries participating to accurately reflect the region’s growing interest in thermal spray. The presence of a large number of renowned experts from across the globe ensured exciting technical deliberations, with the program including 11 plenary talks, 14 invited lectures, and more than 85 oral technical presentations. In addition, 20 poster presentations were made by young researchers and students.

We hope that this issue appropriately reflects the flavor of the conference and the caliber of papers presented at the event. Since the special issue was first conceived, there has been unanimity about ensuring that the high quality of papers for which JTST is known would not be compromised. As a result, out of the 64 papers taken up for initial screening, only a few have been included in this issue. The time devoted by various experts (Rehan Ahmed, Chris Berndt, Margaret Hyland, Jeganathan Karthikeyan, Ghislain Montavon, Lech Pawlowski, Sanjay Sampath, and Robert Vassen) in helping us with the preliminary screening is appreciated. We must also place on record our sincere thanks to the long list of reviewers who provided invaluable input to us and the authors alike. We hope their efforts become obvious as you read through this special issue.

Guest Editors

Shrikant Joshi

ARCI

Hyderabad, India

Masahiro Fukumoto

Toyohashi University of Technology

Toyohashi, Japan

Michael Khor

Nanyang Technological University

Singapore

Changhee Lee

Hanyang University

Seoul, Korea

Hua Li

Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology & Engineering, CAS

Ningbo, China

Dheepa Srinivasan

GE Power & Water

Bangalore, India