Page 12 - Mechanical Behavior of Materials

Preface

Designing machines, vehicles, and structures that are safe, reliable, and economical requires
both efficient use of materials and assurance that structural failure will not occur. It is therefore
appropriate for undergraduate engineering majors to study the mechanical behavior of materials,
specifically such topics as deformation, fracture, and fatigue.
This book may be used as a text for courses on mechanical behavior of materials at the
junior or senior undergraduate level, and it may also be employed at the first-year graduate level
by emphasizing the later chapters. The coverage includes traditional topics in the area, such as
materials testing, yielding and plasticity, stress-based fatigue analysis, and creep. The relatively
new methods of fracture mechanics and strain-based fatigue analysis are also considered and are, in
fact, treated in some detail. For a practicing engineer with a bachelor’s degree, this book provides
an understandable reference source on the topics covered.
Emphasis is placed on analytical and predictive methods that are useful to the engineering
designer in avoiding structural failure. These methods are developed from an engineering mechanics
viewpoint, and the resistance of materials to failure is quantified by properties such as yield strength,
fracture toughness, and stress–life curves for fatigue or creep. The intelligent use of materials
property data requires some understanding of how the data are obtained, so their limitations and
significance are clear. Thus, the materials tests used in various areas are generally discussed prior to
considering the analytical and predictive methods.
In many of the areas covered, the existing technology is more highly developed for metals than
for nonmetals. Nevertheless, data and examples for nonmetals, such as polymers and ceramics, are
included where appropriate. Highly anisotropic materials, such as continuous fiber composites, are
also considered, but only to a limited extent. Detailed treatment of these complex materials is not
attempted here.
The remainder of the Preface first highlights the changes made for this new edition. Then
comments follow that are intended to aid users of this book, including students, instructors, and
practicing engineers.

WHAT IS NEW IN THIS EDITION?

Relative to the third edition, this fourth edition features improvements and updates throughout.
Areas that received particular attention in the revisions include the following:

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