Materials for Engineers and Technicians – Fourth edition

Citation

Ellis, B. (2006), "Materials for Engineers and Technicians – Fourth edition", Circuit World, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 47-47. https://doi.org/10.1108/cw.2006.32.3.47.1

This is an amazing book! No matter which discipline an engineer or technician is trained in, I am sure that he will learn much from it. Let me state from the start that it covers such a wide range of subjects that some of it will not be relevant to your needs. However, what is relevant is valuable. Furthermore, it is written in a style that makes it easy to read and understand, even for neophytes in any particular branch of the subject.

As may be expected from the title, a good part of the book is devoted to the metallurgy of ferrous and non‐ferrous metals and their testing. For example, one chapter deals with copper. Although he mentions its use in the production of printed circuit boards, the author has some misconceptions as to how they are fabricated, but this paragraph is easily discounted by those of us who know!

There is a good section on plastics with the distinction between thermoplastic, thermosetting and elastomers. The way it is set out will enable a good choice of the right material for the right job with the single exception that the chemical resistance of these organic materials has been ignored.

The following section is on ceramics and glasses in a fairly wide range of definitions, as it includes hydraulic cement and semiconductors! This is followed by a short chapter on composite materials, such as tungsten carbide, concrete and tar macadam.

The next chapter is about fibre‐reinforced composite materials including aramid, glass and carbon, amongst others. All the materials used in printed circuit laminates are mentioned but not in any great detail. There is then a short chapter covering adhesives, soldering, brazing and welding as methods of joining materials. Although not comprehensive, it is nevertheless useful to choose the right joining method for materials with which we are not familiar in our everyday work.

There is a lengthy chapter with the title “Causes of failure”. This includes a treatise on corrosion that is, of course, something which we, in the electronics industries, are very aware of. It also includes problems involving plastics.

The final chapter is about how to choose the right materials and processes for the job. Its introduction uses the ordinary bicycle as an example, from the earliest ones in 1865 to the most sophisticated racing bicycles of today. Under the section of service requirements there is an excellent checklist of the different properties that influence the choice. These are then developed in sub‐sections for each one of them. For the anecdote, it even explains how the conductivity of copper can reach a seemingly impossible 101 percent!

The work concludes with an adequate index, which, however, misses out on many well‐known abbreviations. For example, you have to know that PVC means polyvinyl chloride to find it in the book. Although the index correctly lists polyethylene, in many places within the text the commercial name polythene is used, without reference to the fact that it is a trademark and should have a capital letter.

The book itself is written in the UK English vernacular, well printed and well illustrated, essentially with line drawings, complemented by a few photographs of microsections. As I mentioned before, it is easy to read and understand without being patronising to serious engineers. I can but recommend it, despite the occasional error.