Heterogeneous materials and their applications in high-tech product design

With rapid developments of high technology in various fields, there appear more critical requirements for special functions of components/products. Since conventional homogeneous materials cannot easily satisfy these requirements, heterogeneous materials become more and more important. Heterogeneous materials include composites, functionally gradient materials, smart materials, and heterogeneous material with a periodic microstructure. Heterogeneous materials have many special properties, which will give designer more freedom and convenience, and make high-tech product design much more handy than before. This paper presents current progress of the research on heterogeneous materials, stressing on their definitions, properties, and applications in product design.