Mechanical Behaviour of Materials

Advances in technology are demanding ever-increasing mastery over the materials being used. The challenge is to gain a better understanding of their behaviour, and more particularly of the relations between their microstructure and their macroscopic properties. This two-volume work, of which this is the first volume, aims to provide the means by which this challenge may be met. Starting from the mechanics of deformation, it develops the laws governing macroscopic behaviour - expressed as the constitutive equations - always taking account of the physical phenomena which underlie rheological behaviour. The most recent developments are presented, in particular those concerning heterogeneous materials such as metallic alloys, polymers and composites. Each chapter is devoted to one of the major classes of material behaviour. As the subtitles indicate, Volume One deals with elasticity and plasticity and Volume Two with viscoelasticity, viscoplasticity, damage phenomena, and the mechanics of fracture and of contact. Annexes to Volume One give the relevant basic tools and techniques of continuous-media mechanics, crystallography and phase changes. This title was developed from the Paris Diplome d'Etudes Approfondies (DEA, Advanced Studies Diploma) in Mechanics and Materials. In addition to Diploma-level students, it is addressed to students reading for a first degree in engineering, practising engineers and research workers in this field.