This book presents in a very concise form the entire undergraduate syllabus in the subject of materials science as specified by most Universities for students studying for degree courses in mechanical, production and materials engineering. No existing text adequately covers the breadth and depth as required by the syllabus. Moreover, the subject matter falls into two distinct categories: the phenomenological and the mechanistic. Available textbooks that give excellent treatment to one category of topics inevitably give only a superficial treatment to the other category. The Author seeks to bridge this gap, while offering students an affordable revision text.
Materials science concerns itself with relating the internal structure of a material to its properties, and further seeks to enable the engineer to arrive at a defined set of properties through manipulation of this internal structure. This book has been arranged with this need in mind. Thus, the first three chapters deal with the internal structure of the three primary classes of materials i.e., metals, polymers and ceramics. The next chapter deals with the mechanical properties. The following chapter is on "equilibrium diagrams" that is necessary for the understanding of metallic alloy systems. In the next three chapters the properties of iron, aluminium, copper and titanium based alloys are explained and ways of improving the said properties (alloying, heat treatment, and processing) expounded on. In the following three chapters, attention is focused on the more specialized material properties i.e., fatigue, creep and fracture. Polymers, ceramics and composites are then considered. In all cases, the internal structures are considered followed by the properties and finally some brief mention of the major processing methods for each group. Finally, some aspects of surface stability are touched on in the chapter on corrosion and degradation of materials.
Throughout this book, illustrations have been used liberally to help amplify the theory. Where applicable, worked examples of numerical problems have been provided. At the end of each chapter, un-worked problems are given (with answers to numerical problems). These questions are adopted mainly from past University examination papers. Two or three books recommended for further reading on each topic are given at the end of each chapter.
George Odera Rading is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nairobi. He obtained a first class Honours degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1979. After a brief period during which he worked as an Assistant Engineer with the E. A. Power and Lighting Company (now KPLC), he enrolled for a post-graduate degree program at the University of Nairobi. He was awarded the M.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1983. In 1982, he joined the Materials Testing Laboratories at the Kenya Bureau of Standards rising through the ranks to become head of that department in 1986. During the same period, he lectured on a part time basis at both Nairobi and Moi Universities.
Professor Rading joined the full time staff of the Department of Production Engineering at Moi University in 1987 and headed the same Department up to 1990 when he won a Fulbright Scholarship to study for the Ph.D. degree at the University of Alabama, USA. He was awarded the Ph.D. degree in Metallurgical and Materials engineering in 1994. Upon graduation, he was appointed an Assistant Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics by the same University. He joined the University of Nairobi upon his return from the USA. He was elected to the Kenya National Academy of Sciences in 2004. He has also served a one-year tour of duty as a Visiting Senior Lecturer and Director of Quality Assurance at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology in Rwanda.
A Registered Professional Engineer, Professor Rading is a member of several Professional Societies and Institutions including the Institution of Engineers of Kenya, American Welding Society and the International Materials Society (ASM).
