Customer Reviews

Foundations of Materials Science and Engineering

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This textbook was one the most commonly used textbooks in undergraduate materials science classes throughout the 1990s. Though old, and written at an introductory level, it is worth reading cover to cover. The book covers all the major material classes (metals, semiconductors, polymers, ionic materials, etc..), covers all the basic principles (diffusion, bonding, corrosion, crystal defects, etc...), and includes a lot of diagrams, tables, figures, and pictures.

The text is easy enough to read for any engineering college student, and really only requires someone to have had freshmen chemistry and physics (mechanics and E&M). The chapters and sub-sections are well laid out, with sample problems and solutions for each section. Each chapter is followed with homework questions. All the pictures are in black and white, thereby keeping the printing costs and hence purchase price low. The figures themselves are easy enough to understand, and the basic rules of labeling data series, adding legends, providing units on chart axes, etc.. are followed.

The principle drawbacks to this book are the numerous errors in the sample problems and solutions, and the homework problems and solutions. For a classroom setting, these errors end up requiring the instructor to do the problems him/herself, instead of just asking the students to find the answer at the back of the book. This might actually be a good thing, forcing instructors to devote more time to review the homework they assign, but that is another discussion. These errors are by and large fixed in the newer editions of this book, so I would not recommend buying this one.

This is an excellent book providing a clear, easy to understand, overview of the basic principles of material science and engineering. Covered are all the essential topics including the chemistry and physics behind the structure of metal, ceramic, polymer, composite and electronic materials. Also included are optical, magnetic and electrical properties of materials with relevance to optical fibers, superconductors, and semiconductors. This is a great book for a student's first exposure to material science or as a reference for practicing engineers. I personally found chapters covering the mechanical properties of metals and corrosion well presented and a useful workplace reference. The book provides great insight to real world applications, bridging the gap between theory and practice.

Saved me $60 compared to the school's bookstore! Great condition and worth having a copy for the class. In my opinion, Amazon has some of the best prices online!

If you are reading this review, you are undoubtedly buying this book for your materials science course. Fair warning to you. Materials science is basically a niche course and the number of texts available that cover the material is tiny. This is the only explanation I can come up with for the popularity of this text.

Even for an engineering textbook, where the standards of what constitutes a good textbook are exceedingly low, this one stands out to me. The subjects are covered superficially, but the order is well thought out (hence 2 stars instead of 1), and because of that superficiality you would expect to get better coverage from the sample problems at the end of the chapter. Alas! Only one in ten of those problems actually has an answer in the back of the book that you can use to check your work. There isn't even a student solutions manual as an accompaniment.

Long story short, hope that your professor is thorough and take good notes in class, because this text will be a useless paperweight taking up space on your desk.

The book is just fine. It's just what I needed for my course of study and Amazon's service was up to their best, as usual.

I've been having this book for many years by now, probably over 10 years. However, the contents of the book relates truly to the title, "Foundations of Materials Science and Engineering." The information contained here in this book helps the reader to establish at least a basic, but not limited, knowledge in what the Materials Engineering is all about. Of course, there has been many more R&D and new materials processes developed in the materials engineering world since the 2nd edition of this book, but there are many things about materials in this book that will never change. The newer version contains an update with the latest in Research & Technology Development as well as new materials processes and treatment. I, myself just bought a copy of the newest version, 5th Edition, to stay tuned with the latest in Materials Engineering as I have a Master's degree in Materials Engineering. Also, is good to learn about materials because everything in this world is done using materials, without materials nothing get done, and sometimes you may wonder what materials are made out many of the households goods, surgical equipment, electronics, vehicles, and etc. The series of these books can help you understand it a little bit better.

Generally clear explanations, but errors given in some of the examples made times extremely frustrating. Errata on companion website is no help either.

It is a good book to start material science. The first chapter a good overview and has interesting insight to get the reader interested in material science and engineering. However, I feel in the second chapter it goes too far back into detail about atoms, electron clouds, quantum numbers and things of that sort. Just seems like stuff from a general chemistry book rather than a material science book.

This text book was purchased for use with an Aerospace Engineering Materials class and was extremely useful, clear text.

I ordered the 5th edition of a book and the seller sent me the 3rd edition. After some back and forth the seller finally refunded my money. They did send the book quickly but did not have the best customer service.