This book is an attempt to explain hardness measurements of metals in terms of some of their more basic physical properties. It does not deal with the atomic and crystalline mechanism of elastic or plastic deformation, but starting with the elastic and plastic characteristics it shows that the hardness behavior of metals may be expressed in terms of these characteristics. It is hoped that this presentation will provide, for physicists, engineers, and metallurgists, a better understanding of what hardness means and what hardness measurements imply. The book places an emphasis on the physical...

This is the third edition of a well-established and highly successful undergraduate text. The content of the second edition has been reworked and added to wherever necessary. There are new sections on amorphous solids and liquid crystals, and completely new chapters on colloids and polymers. Using elementary mathematics and simple models, Professor Tabor leads the reader skillfully and systematically from the basic physics of interatomic and intermolecular forces, temperature, heat and thermodynamics, to a coherent understanding of the bulk properties of gases, liquids, solids, liquid...