Book excerpt: Until recently, engineering materials could be characterized successfully using relatively simple testing procedures. As materials technology advances, interest is growing in materials possessing complex meso-, micro- and nano-structures, which to a large extent determine their physical properties and behaviour. The purposes of materials modelling are many: optimization, investigation of failure, simulation of production processes, to name but a few. Modelling and characterisation are closely intertwined, increasingly so as the complexity of the material increases. Characterisation, in essence, is the connection between the abstract material model and the real-world behaviour of the material in question. Characterisation of complex materials therefore may require a combination of experimental techniques and computation. This book publishes papers presented at the Third International Conference on Computational Methods and Experiments in Material Characterisation.Topics covered include: Composites; Ceramics; Alloys; Cements and Cement Based Materials; Biomaterials; Thin Films and Coatings; Advanced Materials; Imaging Analysis; Thermal Analysis; New Methods; Surface Chemistry, Nano Indentation; Continuum Methods; Particle Models; Damage Mechanics; Innovative Techniques; Stochastic Methods.