The Fifth International Cryogenic Materials Conference (ICMC) was held in Colorado Springs, Colorado in collaboration with the Cryogenic Engineering Conference (CEC) on August 15-19, 1983. The growth and success of the joint conferences is a result of their complementary program and close cooperation. Materials remain a challenge in the application of cryogenic technology and sometimes, as in the case of superconductors, are the driving force for the technology. The association of materials and cryogenic engineers increases their awareness of recent research in their respective fi. elds and influences the course of future research and applications. Many contributed to the success of the 1983 conference: E. W. Collings of Battelle Memorial Institute was the ICMC Confer­ ence Chairman; M. Suenaga of Brookhaven National Laboratories, the ICMC Program Chairman; and L. L. Sparks of the National Bureau of Standards, the ICMC Local Arrangements Chairman. J. M. Wells and A. I. Braginski of Westinghouse R & D Center, G. Hartwig of the Nuclear Research Center of Karlsruhe, and K. T. Hartwig of the University of Wisconsin assisted the Program Chairman in metallic metals, superconducting materials, nonmetallic materials, and cryo­ physical properties, respectively. Excellent conference management was provided by Centennial Conferences. We especially thank M. Stieg, who coordinated the preparation of the papers for this volume. The CEC Board, especially their conference chairman, C. D. Henning of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, contributed very substan­ tially to conference planning and implementation.