It is less than five years since the last edition of Modern Physical Metallurgy was enlarged to include the related subject of Materials Science and Engineering, appearing under the title Metals and Materials: Science, Processes, Applications. In its revised approach, it covered a wider range of metals and alloys and included ceramics and glasses, polymers and composites, modern alloys and surface engineering. Each of these additional subject areas was treated on an individual basis as well as against unifying background theories of structure, kinetics and phase transformations, defects and materials characterization
