Electroceramics : Materials, Properties, Applications

Rating:
Summary: An excellent undergraduate-level textbook in electroceramics
Review: The electroceramics community, in general, has been suffering from a lack of good textbooks which cover all major fields of interest of the subject in a clear and comprehensive manner. The book by Moulson and Herbert is an outstanding exception to that. It can conveniently be used as a senior undergraduate or a first year graduate text. The first 2 chapters of the book summarize the prerequisite background needed in the solid state sciences and ceramic/materials processing, respectively. In the following chapters, a wide range of materials such as conductors, linear dielectrics, piezoelectrics, magnetic materials etc. are presented. The text is easy to read. The underlying physical principles of each subject are well blended with the materials related phenomena, thus providing the the reader with the "broader picture" in a concise fashion. The book contains well-chosen self study problems at the end of each chapter which address practical engineering problems as well as fundamental principles. It is my hope that more books like this will come along soon so that the materials science and engineering students are as well served as their peers in other disciplines in the sciences and engineering. I highly recommend this book for those who are seeking a good textbook and/or for those who would like to self-study the subject.