A broad variety of materials can be found in modern machine tool structures ranging from steel and cast
iron to fiber reinforced composite materials. In addition, material combinations and hybrid structures are
available. Furthermore, innovative intelligent and smart materials which incorporate sensor and actuator
functionality enable the realization of function integrated structures. Consequently, material design and
application discloses manifold degrees of freedom regarding a sophisticated layout and optimization of
machine frames and components. This keynote paper presents the current state-of-the-art with respect
to materials applied in machine tool structures and reviews the correspondent scientific literature. Thus,
it gives an overview and insight regarding material selection and exploitation for high performance, high
precision and high efficiency machine tools.