The Objective and Needs of the Conference were specified as follows:

• To assemble a truly international forum of scientists, researchers, technologists and other interested parties in an esthetically pleasing, physically invigorating and mentally stimulating environment for an in-depth discussion of the scientific framework that governs the behavior of hard metals and materials.
  

• To address the fundamental physical and chemical properties of hard materials and their influence on the mechanical behavior and structure-property relationships in hard metal composites.

• To emphasize the application of newer research tools and techniques such as neutron diffraction, Auger spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, finite-element methods and modeling and simulation to increase the pace of understanding of the behavior of hard metals and materials.

• To asses constituent properties required developing cermets with improved performance or substitutes for critical materials in short supply.

• To establish thermodynamic, physical and chemical fundamentals for the production of hard materials, their properties and their behavior during application.

These objectives are best reached by the International Conferencse on the Science of Hard Materials where participants from industry, research institutes, academic institutions and government agencies can come together in a quiet and yet invigorating and stimulating environment for discussion and exchange of information. Such discussions contribute significantly to the development of scientific principles of general validity in this class of materials, as well as provide guidelines for development of new, alternate and less critical materials.