This article discusses the recent advances in polishing of advanced materials. Ninety-five journal articles published in 2005–2007 are briefly introduced. The topics are advances in chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), fluids for polishing, modeling of polishing, polishing of brittle materials, robotic polishing, polishing with vibrations or beams, and friction in polishing processes. CMP is pe...

BASED on vast experience watching the fruit of my hard work fall apart time and again, I feel highly qualified to discuss the manner in which systems break. In particular, the goal of this paper is to define and analyze systems which exhibit brittle behavior. This behavior is characterized by a sudden and steep decline in performance as system state changes as shown by point D along curve Ph in...