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Ageing studies and lifetime extension of materials
348
Book re¨ iews r Materials and Design 23 (2002) 345᎐350
understanding the text. The book is highly recommended. K.L. Edwards, Uni¨ ersity of Derby, School of Engineering, Kedleston Road, Derby DE22 1GB, UK. PII: S0261-3069Ž01.00077-2 Ageing studies and lifetime extension of materials Edited by Leslie G. Mallinson. Published by Kluwer AcademicrPlenum Publishers, 685 pages. ISBN 0-30646477-2, £79.25, $115 This volume comprises a collection of papers from the First International Conference on Ageing Studies and Lifetime Extension of Materials held in July 1999 in Oxford, England. Ageing studies are concerned with understanding how materials and their properties change over time. Knowing how a material degrades means that lifetimes of components can be predicted and ways to extend the life of materials can be developed. With newer materials and new applications this is becoming increasingly important for engineers and designers to understand. The conference was organised to get workers in the field, whether they were metallurgists, polymer scientists, ceramicists or modellers to interact. The result was a fairly diverse range of contributions. The conference papers were written largely by academics and academic researchers, and they are very much the target audience for the book. There are 74 papers divided into one plenary and six theme-specific sessions. The plenary session contains three papers on metals, two of them on aspects of nuclear ageing. The second section of 22 papers is on Observation and Understanding of Real-Time and Accelerated Ageing and contains 15 papers on polymer degradation, three on metals, and four on ceramics. The third section on Experimental Techniques has 15 papers. The fourth section contains 13 papers on Modelling and Theoretical Studies. The fifth section on Lifetime Prediction and Validation consists of nine papers. The sixth section contains six papers on Lifetime Extension, and the final section on Materials Design for Ageing a further six papers. The themes that run through the volume are polymer degradation, nuclear materials degradation, and military type applications, e.g. ageing in explosives. There are many other areas as well such as stress corrosion cracking, steels, shot peening and melt degradation of refractories. Many of the contributions are from government funded research establishments ŽAWE, Los Alamos, AEA., as well as from Universi-
ties. Contributions come from researchers in many countries, including Australia, Russia and Germany. The book is well produced in hardback and the many illustrations are clear. The book has a contents section, an author index and a subject index. The latter is not particularly extensive for a book of 685 pages. One criticism of some of the paper authors is that they do not all provide abstracts Žor they have not been included for some reason.. This is annoying for reviewers, abstracters and other researchers. The book’s contents are quite diverse and there is much technical detail in the papers, which is not surprising considering the authors. Leslie Mallinson, the conference chairman, in the preface to the book, says that ‘the conference did not concentrate on any particular group or type of material’, and ‘the aim was to attract contributions from workers engaged in ageing studies with as wide a range of materials as possible’. This was to promote discussion amongst delegates. The conference aims may have been achieved but the content of the conference is important to many engineers working with new materials in new applications and they might be put off by the technical and theoretical content of the volume. The work in the book would have much more appeal to a wider readership if an overview of the conference proceedings arranged in materials groups were produced. Dr John Begg School of Computing and Technology University of Derby Kedleston Road Derby DE22 1DG England PII: S0261-3069Ž01.00085-1 Software program review Mathcad 2001 — Student Version MathSoft Engineering and Education, Inc. Distributor: Springer-Verlag. Original date of publication: 1986. Date of this upgrade: 2001. ISBN: 3-540-14897-3. Number of pages in user’s guide: 349, £74.61, US$81.85 Mathcad, to quote the publishers, is ‘the industry standard technical calculation tool for professionals, educators, and students worldwide’. This is a significant claim to make, but the package’s power and versatility have helped it to win awards and become one of the best selling calculation software on the market today. Developed by MathSoft Incorporated based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Mathcad has seen many changes since its launch in 1986 and each new release has grown in functionality, responding sensitively to
Book re¨ iews r Materials and Design 23 (2002) 345᎐350
understanding the text. The book is highly recommended. K.L. Edwards, Uni¨ ersity of Derby, School of Engineering, Kedleston Road, Derby DE22 1GB, UK. PII: S0261-3069Ž01.00077-2 Ageing studies and lifetime extension of materials Edited by Leslie G. Mallinson. Published by Kluwer AcademicrPlenum Publishers, 685 pages. ISBN 0-30646477-2, £79.25, $115 This volume comprises a collection of papers from the First International Conference on Ageing Studies and Lifetime Extension of Materials held in July 1999 in Oxford, England. Ageing studies are concerned with understanding how materials and their properties change over time. Knowing how a material degrades means that lifetimes of components can be predicted and ways to extend the life of materials can be developed. With newer materials and new applications this is becoming increasingly important for engineers and designers to understand. The conference was organised to get workers in the field, whether they were metallurgists, polymer scientists, ceramicists or modellers to interact. The result was a fairly diverse range of contributions. The conference papers were written largely by academics and academic researchers, and they are very much the target audience for the book. There are 74 papers divided into one plenary and six theme-specific sessions. The plenary session contains three papers on metals, two of them on aspects of nuclear ageing. The second section of 22 papers is on Observation and Understanding of Real-Time and Accelerated Ageing and contains 15 papers on polymer degradation, three on metals, and four on ceramics. The third section on Experimental Techniques has 15 papers. The fourth section contains 13 papers on Modelling and Theoretical Studies. The fifth section on Lifetime Prediction and Validation consists of nine papers. The sixth section contains six papers on Lifetime Extension, and the final section on Materials Design for Ageing a further six papers. The themes that run through the volume are polymer degradation, nuclear materials degradation, and military type applications, e.g. ageing in explosives. There are many other areas as well such as stress corrosion cracking, steels, shot peening and melt degradation of refractories. Many of the contributions are from government funded research establishments ŽAWE, Los Alamos, AEA., as well as from Universi-
ties. Contributions come from researchers in many countries, including Australia, Russia and Germany. The book is well produced in hardback and the many illustrations are clear. The book has a contents section, an author index and a subject index. The latter is not particularly extensive for a book of 685 pages. One criticism of some of the paper authors is that they do not all provide abstracts Žor they have not been included for some reason.. This is annoying for reviewers, abstracters and other researchers. The book’s contents are quite diverse and there is much technical detail in the papers, which is not surprising considering the authors. Leslie Mallinson, the conference chairman, in the preface to the book, says that ‘the conference did not concentrate on any particular group or type of material’, and ‘the aim was to attract contributions from workers engaged in ageing studies with as wide a range of materials as possible’. This was to promote discussion amongst delegates. The conference aims may have been achieved but the content of the conference is important to many engineers working with new materials in new applications and they might be put off by the technical and theoretical content of the volume. The work in the book would have much more appeal to a wider readership if an overview of the conference proceedings arranged in materials groups were produced. Dr John Begg School of Computing and Technology University of Derby Kedleston Road Derby DE22 1DG England PII: S0261-3069Ž01.00085-1 Software program review Mathcad 2001 — Student Version MathSoft Engineering and Education, Inc. Distributor: Springer-Verlag. Original date of publication: 1986. Date of this upgrade: 2001. ISBN: 3-540-14897-3. Number of pages in user’s guide: 349, £74.61, US$81.85 Mathcad, to quote the publishers, is ‘the industry standard technical calculation tool for professionals, educators, and students worldwide’. This is a significant claim to make, but the package’s power and versatility have helped it to win awards and become one of the best selling calculation software on the market today. Developed by MathSoft Incorporated based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Mathcad has seen many changes since its launch in 1986 and each new release has grown in functionality, responding sensitively to