Comprises invited and contributed papers in the major areas of impact engineering: dynamic fracture; void growth and ductile fracture; shear banding; experimental methods of material characterization; constitutive modelling of material behavior; numerical modelling; microstructural effects at high rates of strain; impact of ceramics; impact of composites; dynamic plastic response of structures; nuclear industry applications; and aerospace applications. No subject index. Annotation(c) 2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The last two decades have seen a steady and impressive development, and eventual industrial acceptance, of the high energy-rate manufact turing techniques based on the utilisation of energy available in an explo sive charge. Not only has it become economically viable to fabricate complex shapes and integrally bonded composites-which otherwise might not have been obtainable easily, if at all-but also a source of reasonably cheap energy and uniquely simple techniques, that often dispense with heavy equipment, have been made available to the engineer and applied scientist. The consolidation of theoretical knowledge and practical experience which we have witnessed in this area of activity in the last few years, combined with the growing industrial interest in the explosive forming, welding and compacting processes, makes it possible and also opportune to present, at this stage, an in-depth review of the state of the art. This book is a compendium of monographic contributions, each one of which represents a particular theoretical or industrial facet of the explosive operations. The contributions come from a number of practising engineers and scientists who seek to establish the present state of knowledge in the areas of the formation and propagation of shock and stress waves in metals, their metallurgical effects, and the methods of experimental assessment of these phenomena.

These proceedings of EXPLOMET 90, the International Conference on the Materials Effects of Shock-Wave and High-Strain-Rate Phenomena, held August 1990, in La Jolla, California, represent a global and up-to-date appraisal of this field. Contributions (more than 100) deal with high-strain-rate deforma

This book is a research monograph on the material instability known as adiabatic shear banding which often occurs in a plastically deforming material as it undergoes rapid shearing. Plastic deformation generates heat, which eventually softens most materials with continued straining, a process which is usually unstable. In this case the instability results in thin regions of highly deformed material, which are often the sites of further damage and complete failure. The main body of the book examines a series of one-dimensional problems of increasing complexity. In this way a comprehensive and quantitative picture of the complete phenomena is built up. Particular care is taken to use well established asymptotic techniques to find simple, but universal, analytic expressions or scaling laws that encapsulate various aspects of the dynamic formation and the final morphology of shear bands. A fully developed mechanics of shear is just beginning to emerge as a major companion to fracture mechanics, this book may speed the process along.

Significant progress in the science and technology of the mechanical behaviour of materials has been made in recent years. The greatest strides forward have occurred in the field of advanced materials with high performance, such as ceramics, composite materials, and intermetallic compounds. The Sixth International Conference on Mechanical Behaviour of Materials (ICM-6), taking place in Kyoto, Japan, 29 July - 2 August 1991 addressed these issues. In commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the Japan Society of Materials Science, organised by the Foundation for Advancement of International Science and supported by the Science Council of Japan, the information provided in these proceedings reflects the international nature of the meeting. It provides a valuable account of recent developments and problems in the field of mechanical behaviour of materials.

Plasticity is now an established area of study within materials science and engineering mechanics. The proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Plasticity and its Current Applications brings together papers on all current areas of research into the plastic behaviour of solids. The main emphasis is on dynamic plasticity and study of deformation at crystal level but there are also papers on plasticity in particular materials such as superalloys and metal-matrix composites, the mechanics of damage, and the applications of plastic theory in metal-forming processes.