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Book reviews The Nature and Properties of Engineering Materials (2nd Edition) Zbigniew D. Jastrzebski
John Wiley & Sons, Inc (1976) £14.45 Over the last decade or so there has been considerable growth in University courses which combine engineering principles with the properties of materials. The need to make engineers more aware of the properties of materials is a consequence of the rapid developments that have occurred in materials science and technology. The teaching of material science and technology to engineers has led to the appearance on the market of a substantial number of books which aim to condense the subject to conform to the limited time available in such courses for the subject to be absorbed. It is by no means clear that this attempt to make engineers, especially those concerned with the design of products, conscious of the wide range of materials that are available to them, has been as effective as one might have hoped, since even today we still find (particularly in the United Kingdom) strong opinion to the effect that many of our problems in manufacturing industry stem from the fact that there are not sufficient imaginative design and production engineers around. American authors have been in the vanguard of those attempting to produce comprehensive books for engineers on the nature and properties of materials, and Professor Jastrzebski's book is one such example. This book is traditionally set out, covering in Chapters 1 and 2 atomic structure, inter-atomic and inter-molecular forces and the structure of solids from crystalline through to amorphous and polymeric ones.
Polymer Blends and Composites J.A. Manson and L.H. Sperling
Heyden and Son Limited (1976) £24.50 Very few materials are used in a simple unadulterated form and progress in the development of most of them is by a combination of empiricism and experience which, in this day and age, is coupled to a growing understanding of their behaviour in comparatively simple form. This book is, to the best of my knowledge, one of the first to bring together both developments across the whole field of polymer technology, and the underlying scientific knowledge of their behaviour. The large amount of information contained in this book emphasizes the rapid growth in the subject and in a sense indicates its 'coming of age'. Perhaps a subtitle could be'a text book of 'polymergy' '. The book is clearly written for advanced students or technologists who will certainly find it an excellent source book.
COMPOSITES. APRIL 1977
Chapter 3 spells out the principles of phase transformations and equilibria; then follows a chapter on defects and imperfections in solids leading into Chapter 5 which deals with rate processes, diffusion and crystallisation. A chapter on surface and interfacial phenomena is followed by one on mechanical properties. Having thus set the scene in terms of the underlying sciences and behaviour of materials, three chapters then deal with metals, ceramics and polymers. Then follow chapters specialising in electronic, magnetic and thermal properties and the whole is rounded off with a consideration of composite materials and corrosion. An attractive feature, typical of books of this kind from American sources, is the inclusion of worked examples and sets of questions at the end of each chapter, which encourages the industrious student to confirm his grasp of the various topics. On the whole this is an attractive book for the purposes for which it is intended, but inevitably the precise way in which principles are spelled out and presented leads to a little discomfort on the part of those who know the subject well, 0because quite often one feels that the student may well reach the conclusion that many of the properties of materials are very well understood and entirely sewn up. Of course that is helpful from the point of view of examinations, but can lead to a belief that the subject is sterile and closed. If I had one criticism of all books of this kind that are aimed at engineers, it is that their layout has more sympathy with that of a solid state physics text book. Why is it that no one has considered writing a book that deals predominantly with design questions and materials applications first, and which then leads back to the properties of materials and the underlying science on a 'need to know' basis? Surely this would be attractive to the budding engineer. This criticism apart, however, I am sure that this particular book will continue to attract interest for teaching purposes. J.E. Bailey
The first chapter is an introductory one dealing with the essential features and properties of homo-polymers; then follows a chapter classifying polymer mixtures, introducing nomenclature and morphology. Chapters 3 to 9 cover rubber toughened plastics, block copolymers, ionomers and interpenetrating polymer networks. It is very apparent in reading through these chapters that a systematic and meaningful classification of polymer blends and composites is needed, as the authors point out. The classification of polymer blends according to polymer structure and morphology is essential in a book of this kind but may be off-putting to the technologist more concerned with the normal descriptive terms. No doubt the chapter entitled 'Rubber Toughened Plastics' will be easily accepted, but other chapter headings such as, for example, 'Diblock and triblock copolymers' are not ones that easily relate to the normal descriptive terms; so recourse to the index will be necessary, but its use will be rewarding. The approach taken in Chapter 3 is to consider the synthesis and related morphology of blends resulting from the principal
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