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Laser treatment of materials
B o o k s & Publications TECHNOLOGY IN THE 1 9 9 0 ' s THE PROMISE OF ADVANCED MATERIALS E D Hondros and A Kelly The Royal S o c i e t y UK 1 9 8 7 183 pp £ 3 5 . 0 0 UK £ 3 7 . 0 0 Overseas ISBN: 0 8 5 4 0 3 3 1 9 X One main theme set by the organisers for the conference (the proceedings of which form this book) held in June 1986 was the examination of how better matedals could benefit society and how aspirations based on them could be achieved. Materials are important in their own right with improved intrinsic properties to give a performance advantage. They also enable other technologies such as electronics to perform more effectively. The fourteen papers accordingly range widely over types of materials from composites (A Kelly - University of Surrey) whose benaviour is important for present and future engineering applications to the investigations (L H Schwartz - US National Bureau of Standards) of quasi crystalline symmetry in electronic materials. The strength of technological pull was plainly shown by R F Simenz (Lockheed Aircraft) in the influence of aerospace performance requirements on advanced structural materials whilst G R Belbin and P A Staniland (ICI) dealt with the increasingly important role of thermoplastic in composites. Ecomonical and historical aspects were covered in two papers by H M Morcum (OECD) and R Malpas (BP Ventures). The fall out for civil applications arising from defence orientated work was presented by J F Barnes and B R Holeman (Ministry of Defence). Whenever I use Paddington station in future not only will ! touch my cap to the statue of Brunel (and the better known model of the Bear) but I will appreciate even more the
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information being given m e by the display on liquid crystal work from RSRE (Malvem). J J Gilman (Lawrence Berkeley) related the most useful combination of chemical and physical properties given by rapidly solidified materials. The advantage of macro defect-free cements for building engineers was described by S R Tan, A J Howard an J D Birchall (ICI). Optoelectronic devices based on c o m p o u n d semiconductors such as GaAs and built up as layered modulated structures were described by J C Philips ( AT & T Bell Laboratories). The importance of material metrology in future applications was detailed by H Czichos (Federal Republic of German Institute for Materials Research) and H Kr6ckel & J H Westbrook (EEC, Petten & Sci-Tech USA) dealt with the problems of creating materials information systems. A very welcome approach came from M F Ashby (University of Cambridge) who showed how atomistic modelling can help design problems, solutions for which to a large extent at present are based on engineering empiricism. It attracted by far the greatest amount of discussion. H Suzuki (Tokyo Institute of Technology) gave a comprehensive review of new ceramics and ceramic composites as seen from Japan. The papers are well set out and a credit to the authors, editors and typesetters. 1 saw only two misprints but remain puzzled at inconsistent uses of full stops. Most abbreviations (BP, VAMAS, MOCUD) rightly omitted them to give a more pleasing appearance but U.K., U.S.A. and F.R.S. are apparently subject to different rules. The papers are in the order given at the Conference and a regrouping would have produced a more homogenous approach. Altogether the account gives a useful overall cross sectional view of the present and future matedals world as seen in the year 1985-86 while the papers were being prepared.
It suffers from omissions caused by the inexorable pace of scientific and technological developments - the early work on perovskite super-conductors was only revealed in December 1986 - but most of the papers will keep their topicality. The price is high but matedals libraries will need a reference copy. The impecunious student can however take advantage of the original publication in Phil Trans Roy Soc Vo1322, 307-491 July 1987 and perhaps obtain some of the repdnts supplied gratis to the authors. L Bovey
LASER TREATMENT OF MATERIALS Barry L Mordike D e u t s c h e Gesellschaft fur Metallkunde eV West Germany 1 9 8 7 4 8 0 pp DM 1 4 5 . 0 0 ISBN: 3 8 8 3 5 5 117 1
The book consists of the proceedings of the European conference on "Laser Treatment of Materials" held in Bad Neuheim 1986. The book is nicely presented with clear type and a hard cover. The contents include some very good papers. The opening paper by Bimberg of Berlin on general principles are that of Fritsch and Clausthal on fundamental aspects are two clear background papers. The two theoretical papers by Kurz et al on solidification processes are distinct additions to the literature on the subject. It is perhaps surprising to find that this book which has a reasonably general title, should have a strong proportion of papers on surface treatments. There are 48 papers in all of which 35 are on Silicon, is discussed in four papers by French
MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 9 NO. 3 MAY/JUNE 1988
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information being given m e by the display on liquid crystal work from RSRE (Malvem). J J Gilman (Lawrence Berkeley) related the most useful combination of chemical and physical properties given by rapidly solidified materials. The advantage of macro defect-free cements for building engineers was described by S R Tan, A J Howard an J D Birchall (ICI). Optoelectronic devices based on c o m p o u n d semiconductors such as GaAs and built up as layered modulated structures were described by J C Philips ( AT & T Bell Laboratories). The importance of material metrology in future applications was detailed by H Czichos (Federal Republic of German Institute for Materials Research) and H Kr6ckel & J H Westbrook (EEC, Petten & Sci-Tech USA) dealt with the problems of creating materials information systems. A very welcome approach came from M F Ashby (University of Cambridge) who showed how atomistic modelling can help design problems, solutions for which to a large extent at present are based on engineering empiricism. It attracted by far the greatest amount of discussion. H Suzuki (Tokyo Institute of Technology) gave a comprehensive review of new ceramics and ceramic composites as seen from Japan. The papers are well set out and a credit to the authors, editors and typesetters. 1 saw only two misprints but remain puzzled at inconsistent uses of full stops. Most abbreviations (BP, VAMAS, MOCUD) rightly omitted them to give a more pleasing appearance but U.K., U.S.A. and F.R.S. are apparently subject to different rules. The papers are in the order given at the Conference and a regrouping would have produced a more homogenous approach. Altogether the account gives a useful overall cross sectional view of the present and future matedals world as seen in the year 1985-86 while the papers were being prepared.
It suffers from omissions caused by the inexorable pace of scientific and technological developments - the early work on perovskite super-conductors was only revealed in December 1986 - but most of the papers will keep their topicality. The price is high but matedals libraries will need a reference copy. The impecunious student can however take advantage of the original publication in Phil Trans Roy Soc Vo1322, 307-491 July 1987 and perhaps obtain some of the repdnts supplied gratis to the authors. L Bovey
LASER TREATMENT OF MATERIALS Barry L Mordike D e u t s c h e Gesellschaft fur Metallkunde eV West Germany 1 9 8 7 4 8 0 pp DM 1 4 5 . 0 0 ISBN: 3 8 8 3 5 5 117 1
The book consists of the proceedings of the European conference on "Laser Treatment of Materials" held in Bad Neuheim 1986. The book is nicely presented with clear type and a hard cover. The contents include some very good papers. The opening paper by Bimberg of Berlin on general principles are that of Fritsch and Clausthal on fundamental aspects are two clear background papers. The two theoretical papers by Kurz et al on solidification processes are distinct additions to the literature on the subject. It is perhaps surprising to find that this book which has a reasonably general title, should have a strong proportion of papers on surface treatments. There are 48 papers in all of which 35 are on Silicon, is discussed in four papers by French
MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 9 NO. 3 MAY/JUNE 1988