This is an impressive and well-edited book that will be welcomed by materials scientists. However, despite its title, the subject is very specialised, addressing metallic alloys in some scientific depth. These are the important and highly engineered alloys and composites used in industrial processes, rather than the more familiar 'structural materials' used in buildings and other civil engineering construction.
In order to seek a wider market, too many book titles include the words 'An Introduction to...', and it can be difficult to find more advanced compilations. This book is uncompromisingly a reference book aimed at research scientists and industrialists, plus final-year and postgraduate materials science students. It seems to succeed in its objective, being a considered and well-structured presentation, which is impressively illustrated and contains an abundance of up-to-date reference lists. Professor Xiao Guo should be congratulated on editing the book into a complete work that is admirably consistent in scientific level, style and format.
If the main title is rather non-specific, then Professor Xiao Guo's preface sets out the nature and objectives of the book with great clarity. He also provides a concise explanation of the term 'structural materials' as used in this discipline, including the memorable quotation that 'Materials are like people—it's their defects that make them interesting.' It becomes clear that the book is about engineering the microstructural features or 'defects' that are specific to each group of these materials, in order to achieve the properties that are desirable for their uses.
The technical authority of this book depends upon its high-powered array of international chapter authors, every one a university professor and, according to Professor Xiao Guo, each a 'renowned researcher' in their field. This apparently carefully selected team of academic experts from around the world has enabled the book reliably to represent a state-of-the-art review. Difficult scientific details and processes are described in a clear and readable style throughout the book, robustly supported by mostly high-quality images (mainly electron micrographs) and well-drawn diagrams.
After Professor Xiao Guo's short preface, there is a simple structure of eight chapters. Each of the first six deals with an important group of materials (alloys of aluminium, magnesium, iron and nickel respectively, plus intermetallic alloys and metal matrix composites). Two final chapters address particular processing techniques (semi-solid processing and superplasticity). Lists of references and other sources of information follow each chapter. There is an effective index of subjects, but not names or authors.
I am pleased to commend this book for its stated purpose, as a ‘valuable reference’ for specialist researchers and an ‘indispensable source of information’ for some students. It is also sufficiently well written and illustrated to be an interesting read for any scientists and engineers interested in these important materials. I have just one criticism: a reference book of this sort would have benefited greatly from a glossary.
