Preface
The third edition of this book represents a significant change from the previous
editions in that the chapter on Low carbon strip steels has been completely
rewritten and expanded very considerably. This has been achieved through the
input of Roger Hudd, who has had a long and distinguished career with British
Steel in the strip steels sector, and I am delighted that he has agreed to be a
co-author for this latest edition. Previous editions also contained a brief chapter
entitled Technological trends in the steelmaking industry which dealt with steel
production aspects. This chapter has been eliminated in the third edition because
the authors are essentially product-orientated and their knowledge of process
aspects is superficial. However, the remaining chapters on Low carbon structural
steels, Engineering steels and Stainless steels are essentially unchanged and the
text overall deals with the metallurgy of the mainstream commercial grades and
the service requirements that govern their applications. As such, the text is again
directed primarily towards the needs of undergraduates and steel users who have
a basic knowledge of ferrous metallurgy. However, a minor innovation is the
inclusion of brief sections, at the beginning of each chapter, on the Underlying
metallurgical principles of the various steel types which may serve as a useful
introduction to the basic concepts.
Since the second edition in 1994, major changes have taken place in the move
from British to European specifications. These changes have been recorded to
reflect the situation in spring 1997. However, this process is still incomplete and,
in some instances, it has been necessary to refer to both British and European
standards.
As far as possible, the data on steel prices have also been updated to reflect
the current situation, but again with the proviso that such information can soon
be out of date and should only be used as a guide to the relative costs of steel
grades.
David T. Llewellyn
Department of Materials Engineering
University of Wales Swansea
May 1997