Xiu-Tian Yan is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Design, Manufacture and Engineering Management (DMEM) of the University of Strathclyde. He has been involved in three European Commission funded projects, promoting research exchange in engineering design and manufacture in Europe and Asia. He was a key researcher working on UK government funded Schemebuilder project from 1992-1994. He has 130 refereed publications in total, including 27 journal papers, 3 edited books, 15 book chapters, and 69 refereed international conference papers. He was an Invited Professor from March -August 2007 and was a Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Technology Troyes. He is also a Guest Professor and PhD adviser (since 2005) and Visiting Professor (since 2003) at Northwestern Polytechnical University, China. He has organised several international conferences/symposia and has been a technical paper reviewer for numerous international journals and conferences in his fields. Yongdong Xu passed away shortly after completing this book. At the time of his death he was a professor of the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Northwestern Polytechnical University, and an internationally and nationally recognised researcher in chemical vapour deposition and fibre reinforced ceramic matrix composite materials.