Manufacturing Technology for Aerospace Structural Materials 1st Edition

Excellent book, except that Butterworth Heinemann print quality was definitely 3rd world class. The seller took great pains to properly wrap the book for transit. If it had flown on MH370, the pages would still be dry and crisp.

This book is really good in content, covering the relevant topics. But the printing quality using outdated inkject is really disappointing, and 100% doesn't deserve the price nearly $200.

Campbell provides a good overview of the history of aerospace manufacturing. We see that aluminium has been the favourite metal for planes since World War 2, due to its light weight and strength. Along with the ability to fashion it easily into myriad shapes. There are graphs provided early in the text that show the relative proportions of the main metals in planes over time. Iron plays a relatively small role due to its density. Largely, aluminium can replace iron in most plane uses.Another metal of prominence is titanium. Stronger considerably than aluminium, with a higher melting point. The latter is crucial for the skins of fighter planes, as their high speeds leads to elevated temperatures on the fuselages. But aside from such niche roles, titanium is far costlier than aluminium and thus has never become more widespread.There is discussion about composites. These are very promising, in part for the ability to make complex shapes in a single mold, which can reduce the chances of cracks. But also because of the possibility of low density and high strength. More research is needed to follow up on this.The text combines both a narrative on materials science and a main discourse on manufacturing. The material should be readily accessible to undergraduate engineering students.