Layman's introduction to metallurgy?

[dfranke]

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a good layman's introduction to metallurgy. I'm not looking for something to prepare me for a career change or anything; I just want to be able to "speak the language" and understand what the heck people are talking about when they refer to various metallurgical processes. I have a decent background in physics and chemistry so it's fine for it to assume the same.

[Mergs]

Good question. Is there a "Metallurgy for Dummies"? I take it you are looking for something that describes things like tempering, quenching, cold working, etc., correct?

I have a minor in materials, but haven't looked at a metallurgy book since school. There are, however, several metallurgists lurking about the forum: Peter Gustaffson and HowtoBrew are the ones that come to mind immediately.

Am loolking forward to seeing the responses!

[clagen]

There are many books from an engineering standpoint that I am sure other will mention, but one could always start with:

Chandler, Harry.: Metallurgy for the non-metallurgist / by Harry Chandler..
Materials Park, Ohio : ASM International, c1998.

I am up to my eyeballs in an archaeometallurgy PhD, so have had to teach just this subject to others. I was taught with old engineering books from the 1970's (they're still fine for our purposes, and were what our advisors used), but I too would like to know the latest and greatest. Next reference, anyone?

[Mergs]

I am up to my eyeballs in an archaeometallurgy PhD, so have had to teach just this subject to others. I was taught with old engineering books from the 1970's (they're still fine for our purposes, and were what our advisors used), but I too would like to know the latest and greatest. Next reference, anyone?

Are you implying a connection between archaemetallurgy and the 1970's? Hmmmmmm? Some of us resemble that remark, ya whippersnapper, you!

Seriously, though, I looked over the book you referenced, and it looks like a pretty good read, although it probably is a bit more detailed than what the OP was looking for.

[erooMynohtnA]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

[damianip]

Chandler's book is good but hellishly expensive.

Ferrous metallurgy is a broad and challenging field. Some basics in material science might help.

I recommend this book as a good primer to understand materials failure mechanism and design issues. It won't teach you material science, but it will get familiar with important concepts and the examples are excellent:

"The New Science of Strong Materials or Why You Don't Fall through the Floor" by JE Gordon.

Also years ago Scientific American put out a collection called "Materials". The official author is "Scientific American Editors" and it came out in the late 60s or early 70s. It was one of the books we used in an undergrad MatSci course.

You can probably find it through one of the on-line used book finders.

Also "Metallurgy Fundamentals" by Brandt and Warner is good but it's a textbook and kind of reads that way. I think you can find it used for about 30-40 dollars.

Paolo

[LordShout]

I couldn't find it in a quick search but I believe I. Asimov wrote something like what you're asking for. Anyone else that can shed some light?