ASM Handbook,Volume 1
properties and selection
irons,steels,and high performance alloys
During the past decade, tremendous advances have taken place in the field of materials science. Rapid technological growth and development of composite materials, plastics, and ceramics combined with continued improvements in ferrous and nonferrous metals have made materials selection one of the most challenging endeavors for engineers. Yet the process of selection of materials has also evolved. No longer is a mere recitation of specifications, compositions, and properties adequate when dealing with this complex operation. Instead, information is needed that explains the correlation among the processing, structures, and properties of materials as well as their areas of use. It is the aim of this volume⎯the first in the new 10th Edition series of Metals Handbook⎯to present such data.
Like the technology it documents, the Metals Handbook is also evolving. To be truly effective and valid as a reference work, each Edition of the Handbook must have its own identity. To merely repeat information, or to simply make superficial cosmetic changes, would be self-defeating. As such, utmost care and thought were brought to the task of planning the 10th Edition by both the ASM Handbook Committee and the Editorial Staff.
To ensure that the 10th Edition continued the tradition of quality associated with the Handbook, it was agreed that it was necessary to:
• Determine which subjects (articles) not included in previous Handbooks needed to be added to the 10th Edition
• Determine which previously published articles needed only to be revised and/or expanded
• Determine which previously published articles needed to be completely rewritten
• Determine which areas needed to be de-emphasized
• Identify and eliminate obsolete data
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