Application of various composites is rapidly increasing among several manufacturing and composite-based industries. These include the automotive and aerospace sectors, among others. The wide use of composites can be attributed to their outstanding inherent properties, such as sustainability, renewability, recyclability, availability, high strengths and stiffness, environmentally friendliness, low cost, non-toxicity, relative ease of fabrication, thermal, chemical, electrical, corrosion resistance and acoustic, amongst others. In subtractive manufacturing technology, the machining process is very indispensable, as raw materials (workpieces) and engineering structures are required to be shaped to desirable geometries before their various structural applications. Importantly, this process attracts some associated machining-induced damage (MID) responses.

Moreover, there is some associated MID on composites that are either irrelevant or not well pronounced in other engineering materials, such as metals and alloys. Such MID include delamination, surface roughness, de-bonding, crack, matrix melting, matrix melting, fibre pull-out and uncut, to mention but a few. Therefore, non-conventional machining (NCM) was introduced to reduce or eliminate the aforementioned MID responses. NCM techniques include the following types:

• Electron beam machining (EBM)
• Abrasive/waterjet machining (A/WJM)
• Ultrasonically-assisted machining (UAM)
• Laser beam machining (LBM)
• Electrical/Electron discharge machining (EDM)
• Electrochemical machining (ECM) and
• Other non-traditional/conventional machining processes (NCM)

Importantly, it is expected that NCM will become a key feature of future machining of various types of composites, including polymer matrix composites (PMC), metal matrix composites (MMC), and ceramic matrix composites (CMC) (based on matrix) as well as fibre-reinforced, particulate, and structural composites (based on reinforcement), amongst others. The aim of this Special Issue is to follow the state-of-the-art of evolution of NCM, publish original technical papers reflecting the most recent research and application results, and identify new challenges and ways forward for future research in NCM of various composites. The Special Issue will focus on advanced materials/composites and their NCM and machinability, but other relevant areas will also be considered. Papers covering the aforementioned important and timely topics will be particularly sought for by this Special Issue.

Therefore, prospective authors will be required to submit their cutting edge and state-of-the-art research outcomes of various studies on NCM of different types of composites. Relevant manuscripts on experimental, analytical, numerical, and/or finite element methods, including case studies, will be encouraged to meet and satisfy the demand of numerous researchers in the thriving field of composite machining technology.

• composites
• non-conventional machining (NCM)
• machining-induced damage (MID)
• fibre reinforced polymeric (FRP)
• machinability
• machining
• fracture mode/mechanism
• parameter
• damage characterisation/analysis
• delamination