07/21/2005 -
Joining of Materials and Structures: From Pragmatic Process to Enabling Technology (2005)
by Robert W. Messler, Jr.
ISBN 0-7506-7757-0. Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann, Amsterdam. 2004. Hardcover. 790 pages. $125.
Joining of materials to form components, subsystems, and systems is a very important part of manufacturing and fabrication of hardware used to build structures, both static and dynamic. Robert W. Messler Jr.'s first book on the subject of joining, titled Joining of Advanced Materials, was published in 1993 (by Butterworth-Heinemann). This is his second book. It is completely revised, focuses on structures as well as materials, and covers many aspects of joint design. A new section on joining of biological tissues has been added.
The book is organized into two parts—Part 1: Joining Processes and Technologies and Part 2: Joining of Specific Materials and Structures. Part 1 describes various types of joining processes: mechanical joining, adhesive bonding, cementing, welding, brazing, soldering, and their variants and hybrids. Advantages and disadvantages of various joining techniques are described. Two chapters are devoted to mechanical joining and mechanical fasteners. The author has classified various joints into logical groups that make them easy to understand. Examples of loads and stresses in joints are given that illustrate the applications well. Similarly, two chapters are devoted to adhesive bonding with an emphasis on fundamentals of adhesion, design of joints, fabrication techniques, and materials. Welding, brazing, and soldering are covered in three chapters. The processes are classified, described with illustrations and analyzed, and their relative advantages and disadvantages explained. Many tables of relevant data on the processes and materials are included. One chapter is devoted to the metallurgy of joining processes; it describes the processes from metallurgical and heat transfer perspectives and relates them to hardware design.
Part 2 of the book discusses the challenges and approaches used in joining specific classes of materials—metals, alloys, intermetallics, ceramics, glasses, polymers, composite materials, dissimilar material combinations, and living tissues. Recommendations are made for joining specific materials. Properties of commonly used materials are given in tabular format. The treatment of joining dissimilar materials is excellent. Challenges associated with joining very large and very small structures or components, and joining in hostile environment are also presented, but not in detail.
In summary, the book covers nearly every possible joining situation encountered in engineering practice. It is easy to read and understand. To limit the number of pages, the author had to be brief, and as a result not many details are given on any of the topics. Hence this book should be viewed as an introductory text for joining technology. It can also serve as a quick desktop source book for a practicing engineer who is involved with joining of materials and structures. The book contains a wealth of useful materials property data and process details, photographs, and illustrations, which help not only to understand the joining processes better but also to make a quick preliminary assessment of preferred joining processes in a given situation. Obviously the book does not have the details contained in handbooks (such as the American Welding Society Welding Handbook), but these handbooks are listed under References and Bibliography at the end of each chapter.
One area of weakness from an engineer's perspective is the lack of coverage on joint repair technologies. For instance, weld repair is an important topic, but it is hardly mentioned. There are some errors in the book (e.g., Chapter 15) where figure numbers do not match with the text. This reviewer felt that there should be a separate chapter on joining structures instead of merging it with tissue joining, which should be a separate section.
For more on this book, visit the Elsevier web site. |
