Book reviews

Advances in surface engineering, Volumes I–IIIEdited by PK Datta and JS Burnell-GrayThe Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK, 1997xvi�338; xvi�336; xvi�414 pp, price: UK £69.50 pervolumeISBN 0 85404 747 6; 0 85404 752 2; 0 854044 757 3

This three-volume set is the fourth in a series of books

by the present editors which have comprised papers

presented at the regular International Conference on

Advances in Surface Engineering. This conference

series is notable for the broad range of topic areas

covered and the excellent overall quality of the papers

presented. These attributes are evident in this

published record of the 1996 event, which consists of

three hard-bound books, each containing papers

typeset into a common format with good-quality

illustrations.

Each volume contains papers under a speci®c

theme:

Volume I: Fundamentals of Coatings

Volume II: Process Technology

Volume III: Engineering Applications

The papers are generally of a practical nature, and will

thus be of special interest to engineers and scientists

involved in industry-related problem-solving, as well

as researchers who are seeking to develop coatings and

evaluation methods relevant to the needs of industry.

This practical emphasis is well-illustrated by the titles

of the sub-sections within each volume; these being:

Volume I. High Temperature Corrosion. Aqueous Corrosion. Wear. Fatigue and Other Failure

Volume II. Physical Vapour Deposition and Chemical

Vapour Deposition. Thermal, Plasma, Weld and Detonation Coating

Methods. Laser and Electron Beam Methods. Peening, Solar and Other Methods. Electrochemical and Electroless Plating

Volume III. Biomedical. Aerospace. Automotive. Cutting Tools and Manufacture. Power Generation. Marine

Each volume is free-standing in its own right; indeed

the Introduction by the editors, which overviews the

current status of surface engineering technology, is

repeated in each volume. This introduction highlights

the technological and commercial background against

which the books are written and sets out their scope

and objectives. The editors state that a distinguishing

feature of these books is that they `attempt to

characterise coatings/engineered surfaces in terms of

their fundamental structural entities and to under-

stand their behaviour and properties using the

principles of material science and physics'. They

further state that `this knowledge of coating structures

together with an understanding of the mechanisms of

degradation processes that operate on surfaces has

allowed the development of precisely designed sur-

faces/coatings with enhanced degrees of corrosion

resistance, wear resistance and biocompatibility'.

More broadly, the editors hope that the books provide

`a lens for viewing fundamental changes in the Surface

Engineering and corrosion and wear management

professions'.

These ambitious objectives are ful®lled through the

diverse papers included in the three volumes ±

comprising 79 papers in all. It is not possible to

describe each of these papers in detail here; however,

by mentioning certain selected contributions, below,

the overall tenet of the books can be gauged. These are

given by way of example, to illustrate the nature and

breadth of the subject matter of the books.

Volume 1 begins with papers on high temperature

corrosion. In this ®eld there is increasing interest in the

in¯uence of rare earth elements on oxidation beha-

viour, and this interest is re¯ected in two papers, by

Ager et al and by Kipkemoi and Tsipas. The former

studied the bene®cial in¯uence of lanthanum im-

planted into AISI 304 stainless steel, during the initial

stages of high temperature oxidation. The latter paper

investigated how additions of hafnium and yttrium can

improve the performance of Cr±Al coatings deposited

to provide high temperature oxidation protection to

Ni-based and Fe-based alloys.

A paper by Lawson et al reports the in¯uence of

the coating thickness of yttria-stabilised zirconia

coatings on the thermal conductivity ± citing the

in¯uence of the volume density of grain boundaries

in an analogous way to that reported for diamond

®lms.

Under the heading of Aqueous Corrosion, several

authors examine coatings and treatments which can

provide protection to steel. For example, Baldwin et aldiscuss the behaviour of Al±Mg coatings produced by

Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD).

Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology J Chem Technol Biotechnol 74:472±474 (1999)

# 1999 Society of Chemical Industry. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 0268±2575/99/$17.50

The section on Wear in Volume I is notable for the

breadth of coating processes which are covered and

also the range of wear mechanisms. These include

oxidation and erosion of chromium electrodeposits

(by Baron and Marder), abrasion of chemical vapour

deposited (CVD) chromium carbide (by Smith et al),and high stress abrasion of detonation gun coatings

of tungsten carbide (by Bin®eld and Eyre). The

section on Fatigue and Other Failure includes an

appraisal of failure modes in scratch adhesion testing

of thin coatings, by Bull. Also included in this section

are papers on the rolling contact fatigue performance

of High Velocity Oxy Fuel (HVOF) coatings (by

Ahmed and Had®eld), and on fatigue failure of

electroless Ni±B coated low carbon steel (by Beding-

®eld et al).Volume II provides an excellent treatise on the

current state-of-the-art on process-related develop-

ments across virtually the whole range of advanced

surface engineering methods. This includes papers on

recently developed techniques, such as unbalanced

magnetron sputtering (by Arnell and Kelly and by

Yang et al), and on more traditional methods which

are currently seeing signi®cant advances (such as the

paper by Hammersley on shot peening). Techniques

which are developments of existing process are also

covered; an example is the development of electroless

nickel coatings by the addition of silicon carbide

particles, covered in a paper by Lewis et al. Also,

Gawne and Bao describe the novel use of thermal

spray processes for the deposition of polymeric

coatings. Another interesting method with many

potential future applications is atmospheric pressure

non-equilibrium plasma processing, which Wright

claims holds particular promise as a means of coating

onto, or modifying, heat sensitive materials such as

polymers.

Volume III emphasises applications of surface

engineering under the six major headings mentioned

earlier. The content of the various papers ranges from

modelling studies to in-house testing, through to

industrial trials. Also included are process develop-

ment papers, where these relate to a speci®c applica-

tion area (eg plasma spraying of MCrAlY coatings for

turbine blades, by Jones et al). The main emphasis is

on vapour-deposited coatings for tools and manufac-

turing machinery, though test-methods discussed by

Lof¯er in this section will also be useful in other

applications. An update of the range of automotive

applications covered by thermal spraying is presented

in a paper by Harrison and Nicoll.

The editors of this three-volume set are to be

commended for producing a topical addition to the

surface engineering literature. The books will be most

useful, both to those whose research ®eld is the

development of surface engineering processes, and

those who need to make the most effective use of

coatings and treatments in practical applications.

Allan Matthews

Drugs and the pharmaceutical sciences, Vol 84,pharmaceutical enzymesEdited by A Lauwers and S ScharpeMarcel Dekker Inc, New York, 1997vii�401 pp, price: $150.00ISBN 0 8247 9375 7

The editors of this book aim to offer `comprehensive,

interdisciplinary analyses of the entire pharmaceutical

enzyme ®eld' and, to a large extent, their aim is

achieved. The necessary breadth is accomplished via

15 chapters divided into four sections. In the ®rst Part,

the barriers to bioavailability of enzymes are discussed

in a comprehensive and balanced manner. These

issues of bioavailability are addressed in Part Two

which examines the chemical modi®cations which

have been applied to increasing the therapeutic

effectiveness of enzymes, such as acylation and

conjugation with albumin, as well as giving a very

practical guide to molecular modelling approaches.

Part Three forms a review of a number of the most

important therapeutic enzymes and multienzyme

compositions. This section is comprehensive and

covers cysteine proteases, bromelain, hyaluronidase,

pancreatic replacement enzymes, L-asparaginase,

glucocerebrosidase, deoxyribonuclease and thera-

peutic inhibitors of elastase. These detailed chapters

cover the clinical background to the target conditions,

biochemical aspects of the conditions and the thera-

pies, pharmacological data and clinical results.

Throughout, the information and analysis are very

openly presented and well balanced.

The editors describe Part Four of this book as `a

completely updated and elaborate description of the

methods of assay of pharmaceutical enzymes'. The

account is very practical, certainly comprehensive and

clearly represents a major achievement in collating the

various pharmacopeal sources. Perhaps, however, this

latter section does not integrate wholly successfully

with the rest of the volume. It might have made a very

useful short publication in its own right, perhaps

combined with detailed accounts of non-controlled

assay approaches, such as the use of chromagenic

arti®cial substrates, which are nevertheless vital tools

during development of enzyme processes.

Overall, the editors and chapter authors are to be

congratulated for providing a very comprehensive,

useful, and timely overview of the pharmaceutical

enzyme ®eld.

Nick Major

Forest products biotechnologyEdited by A Bruce and JW PalfreymanTaylor & Francis Ltd, London, 1998ix�326 pp, price: UK £49.95ISBN 0 7484 0415 5

`Traditional' technologies are still pre-eminent in both

J Chem Technol Biotechnol 74:472±474 (1999) 473

Book reviews