Mechanics of Materials: An Introduction to the Mechanics of Elastic and Plastic Deformation of Solids and Structural Materials, 4th Edition covers the behaviors of materials and structures under various loads, the ways in which they react to applied forces, the resulting deflections, and the stresses and strains that need to be considered when designing a mechanical component.

It begins with an introduction to the concepts of stress, strain, shear force, and bending moments, then progresses to an examination of bending, shear, and torsion in elements such as beams, cylinders, shells, and springs. A simple treatment of complex stress and strain leads to a study of the theories of elastic failure and an introduction to the experimental methods of stress and strain analysis.

Building on those fundamentals, the book then extends the scope of the materials covered into more complex areas such as unsymmetrical bending, loading and deflection of struts, rings, discs, cylinder plates, diaphragms, and thin walled sections. The finite element method, and more advanced topics such as contact and residual stresses, stress concentrations, fatigue, and creep and fracture are also covered. Each chapter contains a summary of the essential formulae developed in the chapter, as well as a large number of worked examples which progress in level of difficulty. Additionally, each chapter concludes with an extensive selection of problems for solving by the reader.