“…In the first issue of this special volume, four contributions are compiled proposing (1) a shear evaluation tool using digital image correlation (DIC) for plane problems [5], the coupling of infrared thermography (IRT) and 3D DIC for both (2) identifying material parameters in metal plasticity [6] as well as (3) applicability studies of foams and auxetic materials [3], and, finally, (4) identifying the heat conductivity parameters in transversal isotropy using IRT [8].…”