Metallurgy: Advances in Materials & Processes

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and of materials engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements and their mixtures, which are called alloys. Modern metallurgy stems from the ancient desire to understand fully the behavior of metals. Long ago, the art of the metalworker was enshrouded in mystery and folklore. In modern times scientists and engineers around the world have been responding to the requisite of high performance materials over ground-breaking material research and engineering. The ever growing demand on quality and reliability has caused in some dazzling technological accomplishments in the arena of advanced materials and manufacturing. Nearly everything we need for our present-day civilisation depends on metals. Vast quantities of steels, aluminum, titanium, copper, and nickel alloys are used for automobiles, ships, aircraft, spacecraft, bridges, and buildings as well as the machines required to produce them. Almost all uses of electricity depend on copper and aluminum. All around us we see the utilisation of aluminum, copper, and steels, often in new applications combining metals with plastics and fiber-reinforced composite materials. Some metals such as titanium and zirconium -- impossible to smelt or extract from ores just a few years ago -- are now used in large quantities and referred to as space-age metals. Metallurgy is relevant to the materials science, welding, machine shop, quality control, and industrial technology industries, each of which share equal responsibility for the design, development and implementation of metals and materials processing in industry today. Metallurgy - Advances in Materials and Processes is to bring together significant findings of leading experts, in developing and improving the technology that supports advanced materials and process development. It is envisioned that it will stimulate knowledge transfer across the materials society together with university students, engineers and scientists to build further understanding of the subject.