Mechanical Testing: A Treatise in Two Volumes

Abstract

THE contents of this volume deal with the testing of materials of construction; the testing of apparatus, machines, and structures will be included in the second volume. The authors have had extensive experience in the National Physical Laboratory, and this is reflected in their book. A large number of engineers in this country are now alive to the importance of continually testing the materials they employ, and to such the volume will be welcome on account of the inforimation it contains regarding modern methods of testing. The student will also find the book useful, since no college laboratory contains all the apparatus described, and text-books on materials usually have only brief sections on the apparatus employed in testing. The greater part of the volume is devoted to the testing of metals; besides the ordinary simple commercial tests, we find chapters on the repetition of stress, combined stresses, hardness testing, impact testing, and the effects of temperature. The book closes with chapters on the tests of timber, stone, brick, concrete, road materials, limes, and cements. Sufficient information is given regarding the results of methods of testing to enable the experimenter to compare his own results with average values for trustworthy materials. The book represents a large amount of work, not merely on account of its actual contents but also on account of the number of original papers which had to be consulted. This is evidenced by the copious references at the end of each chapter. The authors are to be congratulated on the success with which they have accomplished their task.

Mechanical Testing: A Treatise in Two Volumes.

By R. G. Batson J. H. Hyde. (Directly-Useful Technical Series.) Vol. 1: Testing of Materials of Construction. Pp. xiii + 413. (London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1922.) 21s. net.