Over the last 30 years or so, metal matrix composites have emerged as an important class of materials. During this period, a very substantial research effort has been directed towards an improved understanding of their potential and limitations, invoking principles of physical metallurgy, stress analysis and processing science. This book is intended as an introduction to the field, covering various aspects of the structure, behaviour and usage of these materials. It is designed primarily for scientists and technologists, but the content is also suitable for final year degree course students of materials science or engineering and for postgraduate students in these disciplines.

The structure of the book is designed to allow several different modes of usage. Chapters 2 and 3 provide a background to stress analysis techniques used to describe the mechanical behaviour of MMCs. In these chapters we have aimed to introduce the concepts pictorially, while the details are discussed in the main text. The finer points of these treatments are relevant to those with a keen interest in composite mechanics, but they are not essential for use of the rest of the book. The following four chapters then form a core description of the load-bearing behaviour. Chapters 4 and 5 cover the basic deformation mechanisms and characteristics, over a range of temperature. A chapter is then devoted to various aspects of the interface between matrix and reinforcement. This is relevant to several areas, particularly the fracture behaviour outlined in Chapter 7.