Dear Readers!

Holidays are finished, schools and universities are full of life. All this occurs during not finished yet the Covid-19 epidemic and the war in Ukraine initiated by Russia. This war caused also a significant economic crisis, which in practice influenced all European countries (to a different degree) and also countries out of Europe. The crisis caused a significant increase of prices of electric energy, gas, coal, fuels, which affect the whole economy, the more so as the winter of unknown temperatures is coming.

To all of these the material crisis, existing for long, is adding. The food crisis is also signaled.

All these problems are difficult to control in a situation, on which the societies of a majority of world countries have no influence.

It can be only assumed that large, global industries will be able to overcome these problems and hoped that they will support smaller economies to prevent a mass bankruptcy.

Regardless of the problems, we realize our tasks hoping that we will manage to fulfill them and to defeat accumulating difficulties.

In No 9–10/2022 issue of the Foundry Journal we published the articles:

• Lanthanides: a review of eutectic modifications of hypoeutectic alloys Al-Si. (Part 2), authored by Ozen Gursoy, Giulio Timelli,
• Automatic finishing of castings. The Schmiedeberger Company has over 50% time saving due to the new automatic grinding center Maus 600,
• From the history of the moulding tools development, written by Marek Skowron,

and the summaries of the last foundry events:

• 62^nd International Foundry Conference, Portoroż 2022, authored by Mirjam Jan Blazić,
• 18^th Discussion Meeting on Thermodynamics of Alloys TOFA 2022, written by Przemysław Fima,
• International meeting of the Foundry Sector at the METAL Fairs in Kielce,
• Meeting of the Foundry Commission of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Katowice Section, authored by Jan Szajnar,
• International Conference MCC’3 in Varna, Bulgaria.

We are expecting that the published materials will be helpful in overcoming current problems. We need health and confidence that we will defeat adversities on our ways.

We wish all these to ourselves and to our Dear Readers.

Tadeusz Franaszek – Editor–in-Chief