S.T. Mileiko - Böcker

Modern scientific and technological fields are frequently of an interdisciplinary nature, and the field of fibrous composites is no exception. Unlike fibre-reinforced plastics, the family of metal- and ceramic-based composites is still quite a new group of materials with a large variety of mechanical and physical properties. Up until now it has been difficult to produce these materials as the necessary technical information has not been well documented.

The main purpose of this book is to link together fabrication, structure and properties chains, so as to clarify which structure provides the necessary properties, and how one can attain the correct composite structure. To this end, the book not only contains topics of a purely technical nature, but also a description of the failure mechanics of metal- and ceramic-matrix composites, as this is the key to understanding the structure-properties segment of the chain mentioned.

The book is divided into three parts. Part I presents a general view of composites with the accent on metal- and ceramic-matrix composites. It also contains a brief description of modern fibres and composites and can be considered, at least for beginners, as a starting point for further study. Part II looks at the composite microstructures considered to be either optimal or reasonable in resisting a particular loading. Finally Part II describes a variety of mechanical, physical, and chemical potential for organizing these microstructures. Experimental data on technologies, material structures, and material properties are used throughout the book to support theoretical conclusions or to obtain important physical parameters.

More than six years ago, several of Rabotnov's close friends and colleagues from the USSR and USA decided to contribute a volume on Plasticity and Failure of Solids in honor of his 70th birthday. The celebration was interrupted unexpectedly by his death on May 13, 1985 at which time another decision was made still to publish the work, but as a memorial volume. As in any field of scientific endeavor, research confronts the scientists with anomalies; our chosen area is no exception. The ways in which failure criteria and plasticity theory are combined can differ widely among the researchers; they will never yield quite the same results. Each of the invited contributors has, therefore, been encouraged to express his views and to expound on his personal opinion. The contributors are free of enumeration from the authority and/or consensus of any scientific society or community. What impedes scientific process is the esoteric tradition of accepting ideas and theories by consensus among members of societies and communities. The absence of such a trend is refreshing; the collaboration between the authors from the USSR and the USA had to be one of the contributing factors. Finally, the editors wish to acknowledge the authors who have made the publication of this volume possible. a. c. Sib S. T. Mileiko AJ. Ishlinsky xi The late Professor Yuriy Nickolaevich Rabotnov (February 24, 1914 - May 13, 1985) xii Scientific biography of the late academician Yu. N.