"In this comprehensible introduction to materials science, the author expands the modern concepts of metal physics to formulate basic theory applicable to other engineering materials, such as ceramics and polymers. Written for engineering students and working engineers with little previous knowledge of solid-state physics, this textbook enables the reader to study more specialized and fundamental literature to materials science. Dozens of illustrative photographs, many of them Transmission Electron Microscopy images, plus line drawings, and developing a appreciation of this complex topic."--BOOK JACKET.